Life as We Know It
by Holz9364
Summary: <html><head></head>What happens when Lisbon is landed with her 6 month old niece and Jane decides to help her raise the baby? Life as Jane & Lisbon know it will change forever. Based on the movie of the same name! Rated T for later chapters just in case!</html>
1. Prologue

**Life as We Know It**

_**A/N - Based on the movie of the same name! If you haven't seen it you should watch it, it's a brilliant movie =)**_

_**How would Jane & Lisbon take it if they were suddenly landed with a baby? **_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing D:**_

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><p><strong>~ Prologue ~<strong>

When Teresa Lisbon woke up on Monday the 17th of February to the warm Californian sun shining into her window she had no idea what the day would hold.

She had no idea that in a few hours she would receive a phone call that would change her life forever.

She had no idea that from here on in nothing would ever be the same.

She had no idea how hard her life was about to become.

She had no idea that her brother had died in a fatal accident.

She had no idea that his wife had perished too.

She had no idea that they had orphaned their baby girl.

At that point, she had no idea about anything, other than the fact that she had to go to work and deal with a day of catching up on paperwork unless they got a case, she couldn't possibly imagine anything else happening that day.

She had no idea that life as she knew it would disappear on that very day.

After all, how could she have?


	2. The Accident

**Life as We Know It**

**The Accident**

_**A/N - Okay first proper chapter! **_

_**DISCLAIMER: None of it is mine! **_

_**Enjoy! =)**_

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><p>"Hey guys, where's the Boss?" Van Pelt asked Cho and Rigsby from her perch by her desk, she was holding the phone in her hand and was wearing a frown.<p>

"She's interviewing the victims brother with Jane, why?" Rigsby asked, looking away from his computer screen.

Van Pelt didn't answer him however, instead she spoke into the phone, "I'm sorry she's not actually here at the moment, she's out conducting interviews, have you tried her cell?"

"She broke her cell last week." Cho piped up, and Van Pelt almost cursed, of course she had, "In fact her cell is broken, but I can give you the number of the consultant she's with, if you call his cell you'll reach her." Van Pelt grabbed her own cell and told the person on the phone Jane's number, she then said goodbye and put the phone down.

"That was SFPD." Van Pelt informed the boys, who immediately looked confused, and interested, "They wanted to talk to her about her brother Tommy."

"Do you think he's done something illegal?" Rigsby asked, nosey as ever.

Van Pelt glared at the man, "If he has its none of our business, it's the bosses." She said strictly, "And we should probably finish these reports before Lisbon gets back." She added, causing Rigsby to groan and reluctantly turn back at his computer.

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><p>"I'm sorry Mr. Wilkinson, I know this must be a difficult time, but we need to ask you a few questions about your sister." Lisbon said gently to the victims brother, he was clearly in a lot of pain right now.<p>

"Of course Agent, I understand." Mr. Richard Wilkinson said as he sat down on his sofa, "Please, sit down."

Jane and Lisbon did so, and looked to Mr. Wilkinson who sighed, "You're just trying to find out who did this to her."

Lisbon nodded, "Did your sister have any enemies?"

"Not that I can think of, she was one of those people who everyone got on with, it was just who she was." He looked down, and then a look passed across his face, "But she did mention briefly about Lauren starting to creep her out."

A lead, this immediately made Lisbon alert, "Lauren?" She asked.

"Uh yes, the victims ex-girlfriend." Jane answered, Mr. Wilkinson looked at him in surprise, "Yes, how did you know?"

Jane just smiled, too smug to explain himself of course, Lisbon had to stop herself from rolling her eyes, "And Lauren, what exactly was she doing?"

"Oh she was just hanging around Rochelle's place, turning up in coffee shops when she was there, Rochelle said it felt like Lauren was following her sometimes, it weirded her out a little."

"Did their relationship end on bad terms?" Lisbon asked as she scribbled notes into her notepad.

"Not at all." Richard answered, "In fact Lauren ended it, she had to move to Atlanta for work, but she ended up moving back to be with Rochelle, by this point Rochelle was over it and she and Lauren talked things out."

"Alright, thanks very much for your time Mr. Wilkinson." Lisbon said with a smile as she shook the mans hand and left with Jane trailing behind her.

"It wasn't him." Jane said casually when they'd gotten into the SUV.

Lisbon rolled her eyes, smiling slightly, "Oh and did your 'magic powers' tell you this?"

Jane smirked, "No, I just know he didn't do it."

Before Lisbon could come up with a snide remark Jane's phone rang, "Jane." He answered, his smile disappearing almost immediately and a frown appearing.

"Yes, she's here, of course." Jane said, handing the phone to Lisbon, "It's SFPD."

Lisbon frowned, as confused as Jane now, "This is Teresa Lisbon speaking." She said into the phone.

A male voice spoke back, "Hello there Miss Lisbon. We've been trying to reach you for about an hour, you're going to need to come down to the station."

"The station, why?" Lisbon asked, hoping she hadn't done something illegal.

"Around 2 hours ago there was an accident involving a Thomas Lisbon and his wife Rebecca Lisbon, we found you're number in your brothers wallet, you are listed as the emergency contact for situations like this." The man explained calmly.

"Situations like this? What's happened?" Lisbon asked, worry growing in her gut, she felt sick.

"I think I'd better explain at the station Ma'am." The man said, but it was clear to Lisbon that it wasn't a question.

Lisbon bit her lip, "I'll be there as soon as possible." She said, ending the call and handing the phone back to Jane.

Before he could even ask what had happened Lisbon had put her seatbelt on and started the car, Jane opened his mouth to ask what was going on but Lisbon was faster than him, "My brother was in an accident, I need to get to the station."

Jane didn't ask anymore questions and 10 minutes later when they pulled up at the station it seemed like a silent decision was made that Jane would come in with her. She made her way to the desk, trying to keep calm, "I'm Teresa Lisbon, I was asked to come down here on behalf of my brother Thomas Lisbon."

The woman at the desk got a grave look on her face and made a phonecall, less than a minute later a tall, thin man with mousy hair and rickety glasses took them into a small room.

"Miss Lisbon, your brother and his wife were on their way to work when they were involved in a fatal car crash." The man began, Lisbon had feared the worst but when she heard the words fatal her heart dropped.

"An oncoming car slid on a patch of oil that had spilled from a truck the night before and uncontrollably crashed into the car that your brother was driving. The car was flipped, and both your brother and his wife broke their necks with the force and speed of the incident." The man said nervously, as if he expected Lisbon to hit him, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

Lisbon was lost for words, she couldn't believe it, her little brother Tommy was dead, he was the youngest, he had only been 23, and his lovely new wife Rebecca was only 22, they'd been married a year and a half, and they had just had a baby.

That thought made Lisbon's head reel, their baby girl, little Lily Nancy Lisbon, she must only be…what month was it? February…6 months old…"

"They have a baby!" Lisbon said suddenly, breaking the silence, "They have a little baby, was she in the car when-" Her voice broke and eventually the tears fell.

Jane wrapped his arm around her, and she appreciated the gesture. The nervous looking man replied, "No, she was in the care of a babysitter when the accident happened."

"Oh my gosh, thank god." Lisbon said quietly, unaware of the tears that were still streaming down her face, "So what's going to happen to her now? Will she be alright?"

The nervous man seemed even more nervous at this question, "She's been taken to CPS, she's safe."

"CPS?" Jane asked.

"Child protective services." Lisbon replied, turning to the man again, "What will happen to her now?"

Mr. Nervous replied, "Well, she will stay with a foster family briefly until arrangements can be made."

"Arrangements?" Lisbon asked in confusion.

"For adoption." The man said, and Lisbon could only nod as he said he was sorry again and left them alone in the room.

Lisbon stood, and Jane stood with her, "There isn't any point in sitting around here." She said, always so strong, something he admired about her.

They made their way back to the SUV and Lisbon took her phone out, "Who are you calling?" He asked.

Lisbon replied, "My families lawyer."

"Hi there Mr. Peters, this is Teresa Lisbon." She said into the phone, not looking at Jane, "Yes, my brother Tommy was killed in a car accident, I wanted to discuss the arrangements for his daughter Lily." There was a pause, "No, I wasn't aware that he had written a will, yes, of course, half an hour, I'll see you soon." She hung up the phone, "He's coming by my apartment in half an hour." She informed Jane, starting the SUV, "I'll just drop you off at headquarters then head home." She pulled out of the parking space and it was only then that Jane spoke, "I'd like to stay with you Lisbon." He admitted.

And it was something about the way he said it, and the way Lisbon felt, and how she just needed someone right now that made her agree.

"Okay." She said simply, and without another word she drove to her apartment.

**TBC.**


	3. The Baby

**Life as We Know It**

**The Baby**

_**A/N - The baby is introduced!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING.**_

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><p>When Jane and Lisbon arrived at Lisbon's apartment after a 20 minute drive Lisbon went into grief mode. Jane had noticed that she had this way of dealing with her pain, she tidied, and as soon as they'd gotten in she was straightening pillows, putting dishes away, opening curtains to let the light in, and 10 minutes later when the doorbell rang the apartment looked brand shiny new.<p>

Jane answered the door as Lisbon was in the kitchen; he smiled at the lawyer, "Afternoon." He greeted him, shaking his hand, "I'm a friend of Teresa's."

The Lawyer smiled at him, "It's good to see she has support in difficult times like this."

Jane felt rather proud for some reason at the comment, and at that moment Lisbon came through, the Lawyer shot another smile her way and they all sat down on the couch.

The lawyer, Frank Peters, produced his paperwork and glanced at it, "In their will Thomas and Rebecca wrote that they left everything to you Teresa."

Lisbon's eyes widened, "Everything?"

Frank nodded, "It is stated in writing here." He pointed to very small print and read, "Due to Rebecca having no living family members and my only having one whom I see regularly, as a couple Rebecca and I leave everything in our possession to Teresa Lisbon in the unlikely event that we should both die."

Lisbon's eyes got a little watery at that, but she covered it well, and Jane admired that.

"That means of course they leave the house to you, it was given to them as a gift from Rebecca's parents so they weren't paying any mortgage on it, they also leave everything in the house to you, their cars, everything, you can sell it or live in it, whatever you wish."

Lisbon nodded, completely shocked by this generosity, she'd always liked Tommy the best of her three brothers and his wife had been absolutely lovely, something like this wasn't suppose to happen to people like them.

Frank then looked a little awkward as he made his next point, "Are you aware of Thomas and Rebecca's wishes regarding Guardianship of Lily Nancy Lisbon?"

Lisbon frowned a little, "All I know is that I was made her Godmother when she was christened."

Frank nodded, "Yes, and in the will Thomas states, 'In the event that my wife and I should both die, we leave our daughter, Lily Nancy Lisbon, in the custody of my sister Teresa Lisbon.' "

"He left Lily to me?" Lisbon asked, her eyes wide and tears so close to falling now.

"Yes, which means that I can call CPS right now, and you can go pick her up, but it is recommended that Lily goes home to a familiar setting, such as her own home."

"You want me to move in to Tommy and Rebecca's house, with Lily?" Lisbon asked, she honestly couldn't believe how fast all of this was happening.

Frank nodded, "It seems to be the best idea, however if you do not want custody of Lily there are other options, she can go into the foster or adoption system."

Lisbon shook her head immediately, "No, I want her." She said softly, Tommy had wanted her to raise Lily so she would, she would do her brother proud.

"Do you have any experience raising children?" Frank asked, as he took out his cell-phone.

Lisbon nodded, "I practically raised Tommy from the age of one." She admitted.

Jane cut in, "I'll be helping out, and I once had a daughter."

Frank seemed satisfied and dialled the number for CPS, 5 minutes later Lisbon was allowed to go down to the local CPS office and pick up Lily, Jane of course, came with her.

When Lisbon and Jane walked into the centre they saw lots of babies and children sitting around in the room but no Lily, they had to go to a desk, and Lisbon had to fill out loads of paperwork before she could even see Lily.

Eventually a woman came through, carrying the little baby, she was gorgeous, she had the trademark emerald green Lisbon eyes and strawberry blonde hair that her Mother had given her, she smiled broadly when she saw Lisbon and the woman hurried over to her, she took her from the social worker looking so relieved.

"Hello Lily." She said in an adorable voice, "It's okay, Aunt Tess is here." She held the little baby tight, and turned to Jane with a smile, "You ready?"

Jane nodded, the sight being so adorable and at the same time so strange, the social worker handed Lisbon Lily's car seat and bottle and Lisbon thanked her as they left for the SUV. Once Lily was buckled in and happily sitting in the backseat Lisbon got into the drivers seat next to Jane, "I'm going back to my brother's house, do you want to come or will I drop you at work?"

"I'll come." Jane replied, and without hesitation Lisbon started the short drive to Tommy and Rebecca's, "I called the team by the way, when you were cleaning."

"Oh." Lisbon said quietly, Jane knew it had been in the back of her mind all day, "What did they say?"

"That they felt horrible and they'd all help you in any way they could." Jane said honestly.

Lisbon smiled a little, but she was sad, "I don't know how to be a Mom, I mean I know I'm lucky enough to have a job where I can afford it, buying all the stuff a baby needs like milk and food and nappies, but I'm not sure that I'm cut out for it, and I have a full-time job, I work 7 to 6 Monday to Saturday, how can I do this?" She had never shared so much with Jane in her life but she felt so vulnerable right now, this whirlwind of emotions made her feel so unsure of herself.

Jane placed his hand over hers on the gearstick, he smiled at her, "I know it's going to be hard, and I know it's new to you, but you'll figure it out, you can always get a nanny and speak to Hightower about changing your shifts so you have a 9 to 5 job, it will all work out Lisbon, I promise."

His words soothed her and she felt much calmer when they reached the house. By this time it was getting late when they arrived. Lisbon took Lily into the living room and put her in the little travel coat that sat in the corner of the room.

The house was a mess so in her grief stricken state she cleaned the whole thing in an hour. It wasn't a huge house, it was just the perfect size, it had two bedrooms upstairs along with a study and a bathroom. Downstairs had a large kitchen, a dining room, a living area and a second bathroom, it was just the right size and it was a beautiful house.

Whilst Lisbon had cleaned Jane had sat with Lily, he had sung softly to her and was watching her sleep when Lisbon came into the room at about 6 o'clock.

"I clean when I'm upset." She said, stating the fact as she sunk down next to Jane on the sofa.

He nodded, "I know."

She didn't say a word, and she couldn't have, because at that moment Lily woke up and cried, Lisbon sighed, "She's hungry." She muttered, picking Lily up and making her way to the kitchen, she put Lily in her high chair and looked through the cupboards until she found a jar of baby food, she opened it, and put it in the microwave to heat up, when she turned around she saw Jane leaning in the doorway, watching her.

"You'll be okay you know." He told her, seeing the grief in her eyes. He looked into those sad eyes as he spoke, "It hurts for a long time, but then it starts to feel better, when you have someone amazing in your life to take your mind off it." He glanced at baby Lily who was happily bouncing in her high chair as she sensed that being there meant she was going to get fed, "You have that person."

Lisbon smiled softly, "I have two people like that in my life." She told him, causing a smile to spread across his face, but then the microwave rang, bringing them both back to the real world. Hurriedly Lisbon hid her blush and put the food into a bowl and grabbed a baby spoon. She sat down and blew on the spoonful of food before feeding it to Lily, as she fed the baby she spoke softly to her, and Lisbon was completely unaware that behind her Jane was watching the scene with a soft look of adoration in his eyes, both for her and the adorable baby.

He felt that although this was going to be extremely hard for Lisbon, it would also be the most amazing thing that had ever happened to her. Fate worked in strange ways and Jane knew there was a reason that the tragic accident had happened, Lisbon was destined to be a Mom, and she was going to be an amazing one, he'd barely seen her with Lily and he could already tell, she was a natural.

Jane's smile widened as Lily finished her food, Lisbon wiped her mouth and said in her baby voice (which he thought was the cutest thing ever), "You're a very good girl Lily, will we go and play now before bedtime?"

Lily clapped, liking this idea (if she even understood it) and Lisbon lifted the little girl out of her high chair, it was then, when she turned around, smiling and holding this baby girl to her side, little Lily's eyes identical to hers and her blonde hair messed up with bits of food in it, that Jane realised how much he had missed being a Father, and how much he wanted it again, how much he wanted it with Lisbon.

The thought scared him a little so when she took Lily to play, Jane went outside and sat on the steps at the backdoor, he had been there for less than half an hour when Lisbon joined him, holding a glass of wine in one hand and handing him a bottle of beer with the other. He took it gratefully and she sat next to him on the stone stairs, in the warm early evening air.

"Thank you, for being here." Lisbon said simply, but Jane understood how much it meant to her that he had been there.

He simply smiled at her, "Always."

Lisbon raised her glass, "Here's to Lily." She said softly, and as a sad afterthought, "And Tommy and Rebecca."

Jane clinked his beer bottle against her wine glass and they both took a long drink, "Lily went down for the night, she was fast asleep when I left her." Lisbon said, and it was only then that Jane noticed the baby monitor attached to her trouser waist.

"She should sleep the whole night now, hopefully." Jane said and after Lisbon 'Hmm-ed' in agreement they remained silent, both brooding, lost in their own thoughts, and for some reason it all just seemed so right, being here together, with this baby, for a moment they felt like they could do it, like they could raise her, together.

**TBC.**


	4. The Reality

_Life as We Know It_

_The Reality_**  
><strong>

_**A/N - Sorry for not updating in a while, I have exams and I'm also working on a few other fics =)**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything!**_

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><p>Teresa Lisbon felt very awkward as she walked into her work holding a baby. She was aware of all the eyes on her, she was dressed down in jeans and a sweatshirt and she had dressed Lily in a cute little one piece leggings and dress set. Lisbon had the little girl in one of those baby carriers that strapped in front of you rather than on your back and she just wanted to melt into the floor as she walked into the elevator.<p>

Jane had gone to the store to stock up on baby stuff, he'd done this, he knew what to buy, Lisbon on the other hand had no idea what babies ate or how much nappies they went through in a week or what the heck talcum powder was for. She was so thankful that Jane had wanted to help her, she'd be lost without his help.

Thankfully no one else got on the elevator and she rode it up to the bullpen, when she made her way over she smiled at the scene, Rigsby was bouncing a ball on his desk, Cho was leaning back in his chair reading a book and Van Pelt had her nose buried in a wedding magazine. She walked in and not a soul noticed, not until she knocked on the wooden frame. Three pairs of eyes looked up and widened at the sight.

Lisbon smiled a little at them, "Hey." She said casually as if having a baby attached to her was completely normal.

"Uh, hey." Van Pelt said slightly awkwardly.

"Um, Boss, you have a baby attached to you." Rigsby stated obviously.

Lisbon rolled her eyes, "This is Lily." She told the team, "She's only 8 months old, my brother and his wife passed away in an accident, they left Lily to me."

Van Pelt looked guilty immediately, "Oh my God, Lisbon, I'm so sorry."

Lisbon just shook her head, she didn't like sympathy, the boys understood that, "It's okay, anyway I need to go talk to Hightower."

"You're leaving?" Rigsby asked in shock.

Lisbon laughed, "No, of course not. I'm going to see if she can change my hours to 9 to 5 and no weekends so I can watch Lily and hire a nanny to look after her whilst Jane and I are at work."

"Jane?" Cho asked, his face showed no emotion but Lisbon could tell he was curious, and slightly amused.

Lisbon blushed a little but made a face to cover it up, "He's offered to help out with Lily, and frankly I need all the help I can get." Lisbon said honestly, she smiled at them, "I'll see you guys later." She said with a wave as she made her way up to Hightower's office.

"Agent Hightower." Lisbon called, after her knock on the door was met with silence.

"One moment." The boss called, and Lisbon looked down at the baby, she was anxious as to how her boss would react to this, but the woman had two kids, surely she would understand?

"Come in." Hightower called and taking a deep breath Lisbon walked into the office.

Hightower's eyes widened when she saw Lisbon, "You have a baby." She stated obviously.

Lisbon nodded, "I uh…well I took a weeks leave for personal reasons as you are aware."

Hightower simply nodded, wondering where this was going.

"My brother and his wife died in an accident, they left their daughter in my care." Lisbon admitted, glad that Hightower didn't give her one of the sympathetic looks that she hated so much. The woman just nodded, "I'm sorry about that." She said genuinely.

"Are you resigning?" Hightower then asked and it was Lisbons turn to be shocked, "What? No! Of course not." She said quickly, "I was just wondering if I could change my hours to more sociable hours for Lily."

Hightower seemed to consider this, "You currently work 7am to 7pm and are on call every second weekend and also between 8pm and 11pm at night, and 4am and 6am in the morning?"

Lisbon was surprised that Hightower knew her hours off the top of her head but she nodded all the same, "Yes Ma'am."

Hightower made a 'hmm' sort of sound, "What sort of change do you want to make?" She asked.

Lisbon bit down gently on her lip, "Well I'm going to get a nanny for Lily, but I don't have a big enough house or enough money for a nanny who actually lives with us." She said, "So the nanny would be arriving at 7am so starting at 8am would be alright." She thought for a moment, "The nanny's hours end at 6pm so I'd need to be home before then."

"So you were looking to change from 7am to 8am, and from 7pm to 5pm?" Hightower asked, writing something down on a bit of paper.

Lisbon nodded, "If that was alright ma'am."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Hightower said, and Lisbon was about to thank her when she asked another question, "What about being on-call?"

Lisbon truthfully hadn't really thought that through, she couldn't just leave Lily in the middle of the night for a case, either she or Jane would have to stay, and now she was going to have to mention Jane…

"If we got a call I'd either have to stay with Lily and Jane come in or Jane stay with Lily and I'd come in. We couldn't both manage because there would be no one to look after Lily." Lisbon said, trying to sound casual but failing.

"You and Jane are raising this baby together?" Hightower asked, her eyes narrowed.

Lisbon cringed, "I know nothing about babies, and Jane offered to help, he's staying in the spare room and helping me out with nappies and feeding, it's just until I get the hang of it myself."

Hightower still seemed suspicious but nodded, putting the issue at rest for now, "Alright then, well you and Jane will just have to juggle between cases if they are on your on-call hours." She said as a finishing sentence.

Lisbon nodded, "Thank you ma'am." She said with a smile as she left the office and headed back down to the bullpen where Jane was now sitting on his couch.

"Hey." He greeted Lisbon, "How did it go?"

This felt very domestic for some reason, but Lisbon smiled and replied, "My hours have been changed to 8am to 5pm and if we are needed in our on-call hours one of us will have to stay with Lily and the other come in."

Jane nodded, "I'll stay with Lily." He offered casually but somehow it felt like more than a casual offering to Lisbon, "Thanks." She said genuinely.

Jane just shrugged and smirked, "I'll be in my bed sleeping whilst you are out in the middle of the night chasing bad guys."

Lisbon laughed and took Lily out of her carrier, she handed the carrier to Jane who put it on and then put Lily in it, "Are you still taking her to the park?" Lisbon asked.

Jane nodded, "I'll see you back at the house for 4?" He asked as he made his way toward the elevator.

"See you then." Lisbon said with a smile as she watched him walk away, "Remember to buy her milk." She called after Jane who just raised a hand as if to say 'I will!' and got into the elevator with the baby.

Van Pelt cleared her throat and smirked at her Boss, "Well, that was very domestic." She stated.

Lisbon felt a blush rise in her cheeks, "Oh hush." She said, trying to look as if the comment hadn't bothered her but she knew that the team had not been fooled.

"He's just helping me out with Lily, he's good with her." Lisbon said, although she didn't really believe that herself, she knew in her heart it was more than that because she loved watching him with the little girl.

"I can't believe you let him be alone with the baby." Rigsby said from his desk behind Lisbon.

Lisbon laughed out loud at the comment, "Sometimes I think mentally he's still a child." She admitted, shaking her head in amusement, "You know last night I caught him singing along to the bedtime song on the Playhouse Disney channel and dancing for Lily."

This caused chuckles from the team and Lisbon felt like a fire had been lit inside her, it was like she had this whole new view on life, a whole different life, but it seemed, a happier one, and from the grins Rigsby and Van Pelt were sharing Lisbon knew that they had definitely noticed.

**TBC.**


	5. The Nanny Search

_Life As We Know It_

_Chapter 5 - The Nanny Search_

_**A/N - Sorry for taking so long to update this fic! I've been updating my Harry Potter & Greys Anatomy fics at the moment, but I haven't forgotten about this one I just wasn't sure how to continue it for a while =)**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p>"Jane…"<p>

Jane turned around at the familiar voice and saw a tentative Lisbon hovering in the living room doorway of 'their' house.

"What's wrong?" He asked immediately, he could always tell when Lisbon was stressing about something; it was obvious on her face and in her body language.

Lisbon sighed and sat down next to Jane on the sofa, it was late and Jane was still awake as usual, but in these early hours of the morning Lisbon was usually fast asleep, "I can't sleep." She admitted.

"Me either." Jane voiced, he shared a small smile with her, "What's bothering you?"

Lisbon bit her lip, "The house." She said truthfully, "The house is ours now; officially the house is in our names, we signed all the papers, but we haven't touched anything." She said as she looked around at the photos on the wall of Lily and her parents, of Tommy's wedding day, "I feel like we're living with ghosts."

Jane understood a lot more than she knew. He lived with ghosts every day, his house was exactly the way it had been that night, all rooms except for the master bedroom, the only furniture being the mattress underneath the eerie red smiley face on the wall, "Well we'll make it ours then." Jane said, he grabbed Lisbon's hand, "We can put all of their stuff in lock-up and make it our own." He said softly.

"Is that selfish?" Lisbon asked, her eyes meeting Janes for the first time.

Jane shook his head, "No, of course it isn't. They are gone Teresa and this is going to be your house, your going to raise Lily here so it should look like your house, not their house."

Lisbon nodded, thinking deeply, "Okay." She said quietly, "We'll put some stuff into lock-up and sell the rest. We'll make it our own."

Jane smiled, he was proud of her, she'd dealt with this so well, losing the person she loved most in the world was hard, hell Jane knew how hard that was, he wished he'd dealt with the loss of his family as well as Lisbon had, "Get some sleep and we'll start tomorrow." Jane ordered, but Lisbon only smiled and stood up, "Thank you." She said, turning as if to hug him but then thinking better of it and walking back up the stairs.

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><p>The next morning was as hectic as any other had been since Lily had joined them. The little girl woke up at half past 6 and Jane got up with her since Lisbon hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.<p>

Jane changed Lily's nappy and dressed her. He had just started to feed her when Lisbon walked down the stairs looking scruffy in an old t-shirt and oversized joggers, she smiled as she walked toward the kitchen door and heard Jane talking to Lily, "And today we're going to go shopping for some new things for the house, and we might even get you a new toy." He was saying.

Lisbon felt the overwhelming urge to walk into the kitchen and greet him with a morning kiss, and it wasn't the first time she had experienced this, but she controlled it and walked into the kitchen with just a smile, "Morning." She said brightly to Jane, "Good morning baby." She said to Lily in her baby voice. Lily clapped when she saw Lisbon and pushed the spoon away when Jane put it to her mouth.

Lisbon laughed, and took the spoon and bowl of food from him, "She likes me better." She teased.

Jane just pouted and watched Lisbon feed Lily, "Coffee?" He asked as he boiled the kettle, "Of course." Lisbon replied, "Do you want to start taking things down today?" She asked as she fed another spoonful of food to Lily.

"It's up to you." Jane said as he poured out Lisbon's coffee and his tea, "I figured we could start with the living room and dining room, the kitchen and bathroom don't need to be changed and that's the downstairs taken care of."

"It makes sense." Lisbon said as she fed the last spoonful of food to Lily and wiped her face, she turned the highchair so it was facing she and Jane then sat down at the table as Jane put her coffee and a plate of toast down in front of her.

"Theres not much I want to change, I just thought we could replace a few of the photos and maybe move in our stuff."

Jane was taken by surprise by Lisbon's words but he didn't let it show, "I don't really have much stuff." He admitted.

Lisbon didn't let on how much that sentence bothered her, "I put my apartment up for sale, but I don't really need any of the furniture, I'd just need to move in my books, CD's, DVD's, you know that kind of stuff."

Jane nodded, "Well we can take things out this morning and move things in this afternoon." He suggested.

Lisbon thoughtfully munched on her toast, Jane didn't ask what she was thinking about, he knew she'd share it with him in a minute anyway, "If we're going to be moving things around all day we'll have to get someone to watch Lily."

Jane thought that might come up, "Grace might watch her."

"We really need a nanny though." Lisbon said, "I know you've been back at work for a week but I go back a week on Monday and we have to have a nanny before then."

"We had a nanny but then you decided you didn't like her before her first day had even arrived." Jane argued, smirking at Lisbon.

Lisbon rolled her eyes, "She was convicted of theft in three of the previous homes she had worked in!"

"Which you wouldn't have known if you hadn't run a background check on her." Jane combated, but Lisbon just sighed, "I don't like the thought of leaving Lily alone all day with someone I'm not sure I trust, I just need to know I can trust them to look after her the way we do."

Jane understood, but he knew that she was lying in a way, "And you don't want to miss her." He said softly, Lisbon's eyes flashed as she realised he'd seen through her. She looked up at him with all her emotions swimming in her eyes, "My parents missed me." She admitted, "They missed my dance shows, they missed my graduation, they missed everything. I can never remember them being there." She closed her eyes, "I want to be there for all of her dance shows, I want to see her take her first steps and be the first person to hear her first words." She opened her eyes, trying to hide her emotions, "I don't want the nanny to be the one whose there for her."

"I understand that." Jane said, "I honestly do, but you aren't looking at the whole picture. You'll be the first person she sees in the morning and the last person she sees at night. You'll be with her all weekend and you know what works like, sometimes we get whole days off when we have no cases." Jane smiled at Lisbon across the table, "And what you also aren't seeing is that you aren't going to be one of those parents who goes to work and isn't interested in their kids when they come home, the first thing your going to do is sit with her, no matter how tired you are or how bad a day you've had."

Lisbon took a deep breath, "You know me well." She said, half laughing, half surprised. Jane chuckled, "You're an open book." He said with a smile. Lisbon just chuckled, "I guess I am, but you're right, I don't have anything to worry about."

"Exactly, so let's get the downstairs of the house sorted today and the upstairs tomorrow and then we'll work on our nanny problem."

* * *

><p>When Grace Van Pelt approached the Lisbon-Jane household carrying Lily in her carrier it was late. By the time Lisbon and Jane had finished moving boxes and called Grace it was the back of 7pm, but Grace hadn't minded, she loved babies and she'd been more than happy to spend the day with Lily.<p>

So when she arrived outside of the house it was almost 8pm and Lily was fast asleep, she'd fallen asleep on the car ride over here.

The sight that Grace was greeted with as she walked up the path was the most adorable thing she'd ever seen. It was like looking into a movie rather than looking into a window.

Lisbon and Jane had mentioned redecorating and had apparently decided to paint the dining room as well. They had obviously just finished because they were both wearing old baggy clothes and had paint on their clothes and their faces. There was a radio in the corner of the room and they were both dancing and singing.

There was a little yawn and Grace looked down at the little girl in the carrier, she smiled at her, "That's your new Mommy and Daddy Lily." Grace said softly to the sleepy girl. She didn't want to interrupt the beautiful scene but she knew Jane and Lisbon would be glad to see Lily again so she walked further up the path and rang the doorbell.

Lisbon appeared at the door with flushed cheeks and a smile, "Thanks so much for doing that today Grace." She said with a smile as she took the carrier and lifted the half-asleep little girl out. As if on autopilot she started to rock Lily in her arms, "We managed to finish the downstairs today, I just need Jane to assemble the dining room table tomorrow."

"That's good, when are you going to do the upstairs?" Grace asked, smiling at the scene in front of her, she didn't think Lisbon knew how good she was with Lily.

"Tomorrow, we're hoping to get it all done this weekend and that way it's out of the way." Lisbon told her friend as Lily's eyes started to droop shut.

"Who's going to look after Lily tomorrow if you're going to be busy all day?" Grace asked, she would have volunteered to do it but she had her traditional Sunday dinner with Rigsby tomorrow.

"Well we don't have much to do upstairs." Lisbon admitted, "Lily's bedroom is going to stay the way it is and there is no reason to change the two spare rooms, it's really just the master bedroom."

"So it won't take long." Grace realised. Lisbon nodded, "We were just going to get a new bed and give the clothes to charity then put our own clothes in the cupboards so I was planning on letting Jane build the new bed while I looked after Lily."

Grace chuckled, "That's a good plan, let him do all the hard work."

Lisbon laughed, "Exactly."

"You know he can hear you, right?" Jane called from the dining room, Lisbon rolled her eyes at Grace as Jane sauntered into the hall, Grace smiled in amusement, he looked odd without his three piece suit on, "Well I'm glad things are going well." She said honestly, "I'll see you at work tomorrow Jane." She said.

Jane nodded, and Grace turned to Lisbon, "You're back a week on Monday, aren't you?" She asked.

Lisbon smiled and nodded, "Yes, and although I adore this little lady, I'm excited to be coming back."

Grace understood, with the kind of work they did you had to love it to be able to do it, it was hard to give that up, "It will be good to have you back." She said honestly, "Good night." She said with a smile and a wave and she walked away down the path.

Lisbon closed the door, "I think that was a good day's work." She said triumphantly to Jane.

"I second that." Jane agreed, Lisbon smiled, "I'm going up to bed, I won't be able to put her down now, she'll just wake up so I'll sleep with her in my arms tonight."

"Alright." Jane said simply, "Good night."

"Night." Lisbon said shooting a smile over her shoulder at him as she walked carefully up the stairs.

Jane watched her go with a slightly uneasy feeling, he was finding it hard to control his feelings around Lisbon lately and he prided himself on how good he was at controlling how his mind worked, ever since he'd agreed to help Lisbon with Lily that hadn't been so true. He supposed it was the truth of it all, after all tomorrow he and Lisbon were moving their clothes into this house and they'd already moved in their material possessions and photographs, it was all hitting home for him how real this was and that made him feel unsure of himself.

And one thing that he did know for sure was that Patrick Jane did not like feeling unsure of himself.

* * *

><p>When Janes phone rang and the caller ID lit up with a picture of Lisbon he immediately excused himself from the house of the suspect they were interviewing to answer it.<p>

"Hey Lisbon, is everything okay?" Jane asked, he knew she was interviewing nannies today and had been worried about it in the morning.

"Sort of, do you have a case?" Lisbon asked, she sounded distracted.

"Yeah, 32 year old ex-drug dealer, the team want to write it off as gang-related but I think it's more than that. Why do you ask?" Jane asked, glancing around the street to make sure no one was eavesdropping on his conversation.

"Oh its just this whole nanny thing, I've interviewed two already and all they do is tell me about their grades and hours of experience, but I want to know how good they are with kids, not how educated they are, do you know what I mean?" Jane couldn't stop himself from smiling at her little rant, she did that when she was stressed, "Do you want me to come home for the afternoon and sit in on the interviews with you?" He asked, reading her mind as usual.

Lisbon breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh would you? That would be great."

"No problem, I'm in Rocklin, I'll be there in about half an hour." Jane said, and he couldn't help but think how domestic this conversation was, her asking him to come home and interview the nannies with her, it felt like they were together. He felt like that a lot lately, the way they were so in sync, the way they knew what the other was thinking half the time, they lived together and were raising a baby together and claimed to be doing it as friends but they both knew there was more to it than that, the problem was that neither one would admit it.

"That's great, the next nanny isn't due to turn up for 45 minutes." Lisbon said, and she sounded a lot more calm, Jane heard a distant crying through the phone and Lisbon sighed, "Lily's awake, I'll need to go feed her, see you soon."

"See you soon." Jane echoed, he ended the call and turned around just as the team were coming out of the suspect's house, "Are you going back to headquarters?" Jane asked Cho.

Cho nodded, "Why?" He asked suspiciously.

"Could you drop me off at the house?" Jane asked, "Lisbon is freaking out because she's having to interview the nannies alone."

Rigsby and Grace shared a knowing look and stoic as ever Cho just nodded, "Sure." He said as he got into the car. Jane climbed into the back with Rigsby and Grace sat in the front with Cho.

"You should run background checks on all the nannies by the way." Rigsby advised Jane, "Do you remember that case when the nanny was a spy?"

Suddenly a horrible feeling settled in Jane's stomach, what if Red John sent in a nanny to spy on he and Lisbon? To live amongst them and gather information, he suddenly felt very uneasy about leaving Lily with a nanny, so uneasy he considered stopping working with the CBI to look after her full time. He only entertained this thought for a moment however, he needed his CBI links to catch Red John.

All the same Rigsby's suggestion had him worried, "I'll get Lisbon to text me their names." He muttered as he typed frantically into his phone. A minute later his phone pinged and he asked Rigsby, "Can you do this stuff on your fancy cop phone?"

"Yup." Rigsby replied, "Just give me their names."

"Okay, Lisbon interviewed two this morning. The first one was Lacy Andrews." Jane told Rigsby.

The younger man typed the name into his phone and said, "27 year old Caucasian female, went to school in Los Angeles, has worked as a nanny for 8 years. She's been arrested twice, once when she was 17 for assaulting a police officer and another time when she was 22 on suspicion of being an aid to a murder her boyfriend at the time committed."

Jane made a face, "She's definitely not hired. The other nanny Lisbon interviewed was Patsy Laurence." He said, and again Rigsby punched the name into the database on his phone.

"44 year old Caucasian male…." Rigsby trailed off, "Had a sex change when he was 26-"

"Not hired!" Jane said loudly, raising a hand and looking quite disgusted, "Thank God for background checks." He muttered, "We're interviewing three more this afternoon, Morgan Brooks, Janie Simpson and Meredith Clark."

Rigsby read something for a moment before saying, "Morgan Brooks is clean, she stole a CD once when she was 16 but that's all. Janie Simpson has no criminal record but she worked as a psychic for 5 years before she became a nanny and Meredith Clark is only 21, she started work as a nanny when she was 18, her parents both died when she was 14 and she practically raised her two little brothers from that age onward, she's not got a criminal record, she's not even got any marks on her driving license, she's as clean as they come."

Jane looked pleased by this, "I like the sound of her, I think Lisbon will like her too, I do not like the sound of the ex-psychic at all."

Cho stopped the car, "Have fun nanny hunting. " He said with amusement as Jane jumped out of the car, "Oh haha." He said dryly, "If Hightower asks say there was Lily trouble and I needed to go home and help Lisbon."

"Sure." Grace said, "See you tomorrow." She waved goodbye as the car drove away and Jane walked into the house only moments before the bell rang.

"That's the nanny." Lisbon hissed as she answered the door, "Hi Morgan, I'm Teresa and this is Patrick, come in." She said politely.

Lisbon led Morgan through the house into the living room and went to get tea leaving Jane to make small talk. When Lisbon returned 5 minutes later they started the interview.

"I've worked with children for many years and I've worked with all ages so theres nothing that's new to me. I'm more than well qualified as a nanny, I actually got a degree in accountancy at university…" Lisbon sighed to herself, another one that went on about their achievements and qualifications.

When Morgan left half an hour later Jane and Lisbon both agreed that they didn't like her. Jane told Lisbon about the background checks but didn't mention Red John, he didn't want to scare her so he told her he'd done it just to be thorough.

"This next one used to be a psychic." Jane said distastefully, "I have a feeling I definitely won't like her."

Lisbon glared at him and told him not to judge a book by its cover just as the doorbell rang, Lisbon shot a warning look at Jane and answered the door.

However it was clear to Jane from Lisbon's expression when she saw the woman in the doorway that she hadn't taken an immediate shine to her either. The woman was wearing a long cloak that had more beads and mirrors and colours than she could count, her long black hair was in dreadlocks and again there were so many beads in it, on her face she wore huge round glasses and Lisbon got the immediate impression that she looked like an oversized bug.

Lisbon politely invited her in and made her tea and let her tell her story.

"I have a spiritual connection with children, they are drawn to me like a moth to a flame. In a vision when I was only 18 God came to me and told me that my destiny was to help children discover their destiny…." She drabbled on for 20 minutes before they eventually got her out of the house and Jane and Lisbon couldn't stop themselves from laughing uncontrollably at the hilarity of the situation.

"I really hope this last one will be good." Lisbon sighed, "If not I don't know what we'll do, these are the only nanny's who live close enough to commute, and you know I don't want a stay in nanny."

"I have a feeling you'll like this one." Jane said with a mysterious smile.

"How was her background check?" Lisbon asked, she knew it was silly to be paranoid but she couldn't help it.

"Squeaky clean." Jane replied and that put Lisbon's mind at rest.

Before Lisbon could say anymore on the matter however the sound of crying came from the kitchen, "She fell asleep in the high chair when I was feeding her." Lisbon told Jane with an amused smile, "I'll just bring her through and let her play while we interview the nanny."

Lisbon had literally just sat Lily down on the floor when the doorbell rang, she didn't want to leave her so Jane answered it and Lisbon heard him politely invite her in. The moment she walked into the living room Lisbon had hope because she was the most normal looking out of everyone she'd seen that day.

Meredith Clark was young and pretty. She had shoulder length blonde curly hair and baby blue eyes. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and ugg boots accompanied by a simple black v-neck t-shirt and a scarf with butterflies on it. When she walked in she smiled at Lisbon and shook her hand, "Meredith Clark, nice to meet you." She said kindly.

She then turned to Lily and said, "And you must be Lily, hello sweetie." She wasn't shy about going down on her knees next to the little girl and handed her a toy to play with, Lily clapped and grabbed Meredith's finger and Meredith easily played along with her.

"She's an adorable baby." She said to Jane and Lisbon who were watching with smiles.

"She's hired." Lisbon mouthed to Jane when Meredith looked back down at Lily.

Jane smiled brightly at her and when Meredith left an hour later all the arrangements had been made and she would start on Monday when Lisbon went back to work.

"I told you that you would like her." Jane said over a dinner of carbonara after Meredith had left. Lily was sitting in her high chair having just been fed.

Lisbon nodded, "I love her. The first thing she did was tend to Lily and get to know Lily rather than try to impress us and she gave us proof of her qualifications and signed references, she's perfect! I feel so much better about going back to work now." Lisbon smiled at Jane, "Thank you so much for helping me out this afternoon."

Jane returned the smile and said it was no problem but when he lay down in bed that night he couldn't stop worrying, Lisbon felt better about leaving Lily alone but ever since Rigsby's comment Jane was more worried, she was perfect, but was she too perfect? Was it a trap?

Jane sighed and closed his eyes, trying to will his brain to let him get some sleep. He and Lisbon had to work and there was no reason not to trust Meredith, she had proved today to be brilliant with Lily so he told himself he was being silly, he told himself that there was nothing to worry about and for a little while he actually believed it.

**TBC.**

_**A/N - Okay so I haven't updated in a ages but I gave you a nice long chapter so its all good!**_

_**I hope you enjoyed, I'll try and update sooner next time! **_

_**Thanks for Reading! =D**_


	6. Back on the Ball

_Life as We Know It_

_Chapter 6 - Back on the Ball_

_**A/N - Lisbon goes back to work but there are some problems…**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p>When Lisbon walked into the bullpen on Monday morning it was a good feeling, it felt like everything was the way it had been two weeks ago before this whole mess had happened. Come to think of it she couldn't believe it had been two weeks that she'd not been at work, it hadn't come out of her vacation time because it was sympathetic circumstances, there wasn't much she could have done about it.<p>

"Welcome back Boss." Rigsby said with a grin, Grace greeted her with a hug and a welcome back and Cho even managed a small smile, "Good to have you back Boss." He said.

Lisbon smiled, "It feels good to be back. Do we have a case?" She asked before taking her jacket off.

"We do." Grace replied, "We just got the call 5 minutes ago, the police found the body of an 18 year old girl, she was identified this morning as Susanne Kempt."

Lisbon nodded, "Okay, where is the crime scene?" She asked, heading in the direction of the elevator as quickly as she'd gotten in.

"I downloaded it onto the SUV's GPS." Rigsby piped up, Jane smiled at Lisbon as the team got into the elevator, "Business as usual." He said with a smile.

* * *

><p>By the end of that day they had nothing, they'd interviewed all the neighbours who had all been useless, the girl had been shot in her backyard and they all claimed to hear nothing, the murderer had either used a silencer or certain neighbours were lying.<p>

They had no solid leads and it had been a horrible day, Lisbon hated cases like this, the teenager was about to go to university and start her life and then she had been killed, these cases and the ones that involved young children really got to Lisbon.

When she and Jane got home that night they walked into the house to find Lily asleep in the travel cot in the living room. Meredith was gently rocking the cot and watching the TV.

"Hey Meredith." Lisbon said with a smile as she walked in, Meredith smiled up at her, "Oh hey Teresa." She said, Jane was outside talking to the neighbour about her lost cat.

"How was she today?" Lisbon asked the nanny. Meredith smiled, "She was the best behaved baby I've ever looked after." She said honestly, "She cried a little in the morning because you weren't here but when she got used to me she was fine, she ate all her meals and she played away fine."

Lisbon was relieved, "That's brilliant." She said happily, they had agreed to pay Meredith on a daily basis so Lisbon handed over her wages and Meredith smiled, "See you tomorrow morning." She said with a smile and quietly she left the house.

Jane walked into the house, "Do you know our next door neighbour is a crazy cat lady? She has 17, well 16 now and they all have names." He said in astonishment.

Lisbon smiled, and pointed at Lily, she looked so peaceful as she slept, Lisbon bit her lip, "I know I shouldn't but after that case I want to pick her up." She admitted to Jane.

Jane just shrugged, "Pick her up, if she wakes up its okay, she's probably slept for most of the day anyway, you know what she's like."

That was true Lisbon thought so she gently lifted Lily out of the cot and held her close to her, the little girl slept on and Lisbon sighed, stroking her perfect face, "I can't imagine what I'd do if it was Lily, if she had a promising life ahead of her then someone just killed her in her own backyard. It must be awful what her parents are feeling." Lisbon rocked Lily gently in her arms.

"Lisbon, I think that's it." Jane said, a look of realisation coming over his face, "I think you figured it out, she had a promising future but did you see her grades? They weren't that good and competition to get into university is really difficult these days."

Lisbon's eyes widened, "She bought her way in and she didn't come from money so that money was probably made illegally."

Jane nodded, they both understood each other perfectly in moments like these, it was partly why they worked so well together, they just bounced ideas off each other until they made sense and worked out to be proper valid leads, "And earning illegal money always earns you friends of the wrong sort."

"She could have been into anything though, drugs, prostitution…We have no idea." Lisbon said, the lead failing a little.

"She was a respectable 18 year old girl, she never wore make up or dyed her hair, I doubt its prostitution." Jane reasoned, "But I don't think it was drugs either, she would have had to make that money really fast and-" Jane froze, as if he'd realised something huge.

Lisbon frowned, "What? What is it?" She asked, half worried and half curious.

"Do you remember about 5 weeks ago the string of murders in the area surrounding Susanne's area?" Jane asked, hoping Lisbon would catch on quickly.

Lisbon's frown deepened, "Yes, there were 4 in total, all killed by a single bullet to the head, they were all killed for gang-related reasons, and the police assumed it was a -" She stopped, her breath catching, Jane nodded, "Hitman."

"She was the hitman." Lisbon realised.

Jane nodded, "Or woman." He corrected, "But here's what I think happened, she threatened to talk about what she'd done, she felt guilty having it on her conscience, she was going to come clean to her family so whoever hired her killed her to keep her quiet."

"We're good." Lisbon said with a smirk, Jane grinned, "We are." He agreed.

Lisbon glanced down at the sleeping girl in her arms, "We need to tell the team." She said, "We could call them." Jane suggested.

Lisbon sighed, "But I want to see what the computers come up with on this new lead."

Jane understood where she was coming from, but Meredith had left, "We can call the team in." He said, "We'll just take Lily with us."

"Do you think that will be okay with Hightower?" Lisbon asked as she chewed on her bottom lip.

Jane shrugged, "It will have to be, we're both on-call tonight and Meredith isn't here." He said logically, the small smile on his face told Lisbon he'd use that along with his charming grin if Hightower got nasty.

Lisbon nodded, "Okay then." She agreed, she then glanced down at Lily who had started to squirm in her arms, her eyes were open now and she was smiling up at Lisbon.

"You get to come to work with us tonight Lily." Lisbon cooed to the baby girl, her baby girl, she guessed she really was now, officially she had been since they'd adopted her, but now Lisbon felt a connection with her, she felt like calling Lily her daughter was right and that was a beautiful warm feeling, a feeling that she never wanted to stop feeling.

**TBC.**


	7. Mother & Hard as Nails Cop

_Life as We Know It_

_Chapter 7 - Mother & Hard as Nails Cop_

_**A/N - Sorry it's been so long since I updated! I'm focusing more on my story "Into the Past" at the moment which is a Harry Potter fic, but I'm aiming to have this story finished by the end of August!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p>When Lisbon and Jane walked into the bullpen with Lily asleep in her car carrier the team were already gathered there waiting.<p>

"You said you got a lead Boss?" Rigsby asked when the pair put Lily's carrier down next to Jane's couch.

Lisbon nodded, "Jane and I were sitting at home discussing the case and we noticed that her grades were really low for someone who was going to do law at university."

The team seemed confused so Jane continued, "She obviously bought her way in but her family were pretty lower class."

"So she had an illegal way of making money." Grace voiced and Lisbon nodded, "Yep, we weren't sure what because Jane was pretty certain it wasn't drugs or prostitution."

"But then I thought of a way to make money fast and I remembered the gang killings in Susanne's area not so long ago and how the cops thought it was a hitman." Jane said, and he saw the lights go on in their heads as they realised where he was going with this.

Grace was immediately at the computer typing in, "I've got her phone records." She said, scrolling through them, "The only contact who is related to the university is a Daniel Jones, he's one of the application administrators and they exchanged 2 phonecalls, one was a half hour long conversation 2 months before she died and the other was a 5 minute long conversation 3 days before she died."

Lisbon and Jane shared a look, they had been right then, or at least it looked that way, "We'll need to interview him first thing in the morning." Lisbon said with a glance at Lily.

"Can't we pick him up now?" Jane asked, checking the time on his watch.

Rigsby shook his head, "We could only do that if we were arresting him, and a couple of phonecalls isn't enough evidence to arrest someone on."

Lisbon nodded her agreement and sat down on Janes couch, deep in thought, "He probably doesn't have anything to do with her murder anyway." She said.

"He's just the guy she's bribing with the money." Jane elaborated for the benefit of the team.

"The person we're looking for is the person who was paying her to kill those gang kids." Lisbon added, "And I have no idea who that could be."

Grace was immediately at the computer, "I'll cross-reference gang killings with known hitmen on the database." She informed the others and Jane nodded, sitting down next to Lisbon on the couch, Lisbon stifled a yawn, "I'm exhausted." She muttered.

"Was Lily up last night?" Jane asked, vaguely aware of the team watching the interaction between them. Lisbon nodded, "Yeah, I was up with her at 5am this morning, she's started having her morning bottle later though so hopefully it will move to 6am soon." She yawned again, leaning back and closing her eyes.

Jane said, "I'll get up with her tomorrow morning, you can sleep a little longer that way." Lisbon mumbled, "Thanks." as she opened her eyes and rubbed them.

"Got something Boss!" Grace called and Lisbon was immediately alert and fully awake, she stood and walked over to where Grace was sitting at her desk by the computer, "What have you found?"

Grace looked pretty proud of herself as she explained, "It was pretty small, if I hadn't been looking closely I would have missed it but I think this could be our guy. 3 years ago there were 5 killings, all believed to be gang related in the same area but they were carried out by a young hitman under the orders of the leader of a rival gang, this guy, Alfonzo Armani."

"Okay so he's the leader of a gang in the area?" Lisbon asked, ready to gear up and get this guy, they definitely had enough to go on now.

Grace nodded, "Yeah, the Sacramento Vigilantes." She said.

Lisbon raised an eyebrow at the redhead, "Original name." She said sarcastically, "And what is the name of the rival gang in that area?"

A few seconds of typing later Grace replied, "The Sadistic Skull Bangers."

"They sound like a charming bunch." Jane joked and Lisbon smiled at him, "The 5 victims," She began, picking up her file, "Belonged to different gangs, all except two, Daryl Logan and Dwayne Starr were both a member of a gang called 'The Death Doctor's', got anything on that Grace?"

"These guys suck at naming things." Jane commented from where he was now gently rocking the carrier back and forth to lull Lily back to sleep.

Grace chuckled and looked at Lisbon, "Yeah, his gang had some territorial disputes with that one."

Lisbon glanced down at the file again, "And our 3rd victim, Kloe Cooper was a member of an all female gang called 'The East Coast Barbies', anything?"

Grace nodded, "Yeah, the leader of the East Coast Barbies took Alfonzo to court on the allegation that he had raped one of her gang members but the girl refused to speak at the trial so he wasn't convicted."

"Chances are that the girl was Kloe then." Lisbon realised, "Our 4th victim, Josh Finlayson was the second in command of the gang 'The Trigger Happy Tigers', they are a nasty piece of work by the way, this guy must be powerful to overpower them."

"I'm thinking the same." Grace agreed, "But there is a connection, local police filed a report that there had been a gang fight between the two leaders but one had brought in his second in command which hadn't made it a fair fight, someone was stabbed in the fight but no one was killed."

"I think we've got enough to arrest him on but for arguments sake our last victim was Rebekah Saint of the 'Lakeside Posse', got a connection?" Lisbon asked, closing the file and putting it back down on Grace's desk. She glanced over at Jane who was now holding Lily and was trying to rock her back to sleep, the little girl looked wide awake so she guessed it wasn't working.

"No surprise here, I have a connection." Grace said, and Lisbon turned away from the girl she had begun to consider as her daughter, she looked at Grace pointedly and the younger Agent said, "Another dispute about which streets were whose but there was a fight this time and one of the Lakeside Posse was killed by the leader of the opposing gang, aka Alfonzo but the police couldn't track him down."

"Well, we definitely have enough to arrest him on, he's wanted for murder. He won't be at his known address so do some digging and see if you can get an idea of where he might be." Lisbon ordered Grace, "Yes Boss." She said, going back to work immediately.

Lisbon sank back down onto the couch, the moment Lily saw her she started struggling to get out of Jane's arms so Jane handed her over with a chuckle, "She really does prefer you."

Lisbon smiled fondly at Lily, "She likes you too though, I think it's just because I'm a woman, most babies prefer women because they remind them of their Mom."

"You are her Mom though." Jane said, smiling a small smile at her, "You might not think it yet but she does, to her you are her Mother."

Lisbon looked at the little girl thoughtfully and then turned her gaze on Jane, "What does that make you?" She asked curiously.

Jane hesitated for a second before answering with an air of forced casual, "Her really cool Uncle Patrick."

Lisbon was a little disappointed with Jane's answer but she didn't let it show, she just smiled at him, at least she hoped she hid her disappointment, she was so tired that it was hard to think straight at the moment. She had been up for 19 hours.

"Got an address Boss! He's there, I brought it up on the security camera's outside the apartment block." Grace called out and Lisbon sighed under her breath, she didn't want to get up, Jane seemed to see this and stood up, "Go check it out Grace, take Rigsby and Cho, Lisbon and I will stay here with Lily."

Lisbon smiled her thanks at Jane and looked at the three Agents, "This guy sounds dangerous so I want you all to wear a vest, call me if anything changes, got it?"

"Yes Boss." The Agents echoed as they left the bullpen and entered the elevator. Lisbon yawned and leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes, "It's past Midnight." She said sleepily.

"I know." Jane said, "Sleep, don't worry I'll wake you if your cell rings or if the team come back, I promise."

Lisbon smiled her thanks at him and let herself drift off, he was right after all she was exhausted.

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><p>When Lisbon woke up the CBI was light and she was lying alone on Jane's couch, frowning she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around, where were the team? And Jane and Lily?<p>

Lisbon stood, and smoothed her clothes down, it became apparent as she heard the chattering that Jane was in the kitchenette. She walked in, hopefully not looking too bad to see 4 or 5 women swarmed around Jane and Lily, they were all commenting on how cute she was.

When they saw Lisbon they cleared off and Lisbon chuckled, making herself a cup of coffee, "Why didn't you wake me last night?" She asked as she poured the hot coffee into her mug.

"I fell asleep too." Jane said honestly, "Being an insomniac with a baby isn't very good for you."

Lisbon was shocked at his words but she tried to hide it, the way he'd said with a baby made it seem like he considered Lily to be his child, she smiled at Jane and said, "I guess so, where are the team?"

"Escorting Mr. Armani to prison I believe." Jane said, leaning against the wall, he was sipping his tea with one hand and holding Lily with the other.

"Prison?" Lisbon asked in shock, with a small smirk Jane nodded.

Lisbon seemed very impressed, "They managed it all without me."

"Yeah, they said they didn't want to wake you, even Hightower said you looked like you needed all the sleep you could get and the team had it all under control." Jane informed her, handing Lily to Lisbon as the girl reached her arms out for the woman.

"I'm very proud of them." Lisbon said truthfully, holding Lily on her hip as she walked into her office, she was aware of Jane following her. They entered the office and Lisbon set her coffee down on the desk then set up a little pillow fort on the floor where she sat Lily down in the middle. She could sit up but she couldn't crawl yet which was fine because when she started crawling Lisbon would have to be so much more careful about what she left lying around her office.

"Lily's been fed by the way, she woke up at about 6am and I fed her and took her out for a little walk because we were out of tea." Jane informed Lisbon as he sat down on the floor in front of Lily's pillow fort.

"She always wakes up later when its your turn to feed her." Lisbon said, rolling her eyes, "I'm going to wait and see if we get a case, if by 11am nothings come in I'm going to go home with Lily and assume we aren't getting one."

"I think that's a good idea." Jane agreed, glancing at the time, it was still early morning, "The others were up all night, they'll be exhausted, they could used some extra sleep."

Lisbon nodded, "I really hope we don't get a case." She said hopefully and silently Jane agreed with her as he handed Lily a rattle and started to play with her. Lisbon watched them with a small smile playing on her lips, it was an adorable sight and lately she'd found herself watching Jane more than Lily which worried her a little.

Lisbon had always known she had feelings for Jane and the way he teased her she'd assumed he knew too but this was something completely different she was feeling now and that scared the living daylights out of her.

**To Be Continued =)**

**Sorry for taking so long to update! I really want to get this story finished before I go to uni! **


	8. Memories in Red

_Life as We Know It_

_Chapter 8 - Memories in Red_

_**A/N - You may hate me for this chapter, if you do I'm sorry *cringes*!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! Nothing at all! :D**_

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><p><em><em>Lisbon managed to hide her feelings for Jane for two whole months. Truthfully when she started to see the consultant in a different light she thought he'd figure it out in a day but he hadn't, or at least if he had then he hadn't said anything about it. Only Grace knew about what Lisbon was going through.

For two months life had gone on as normal in the Jane-Lisbon household, they had a nice little routine when it came to Lily, they took it in turns feeding her and getting up with her in the morning and they sort of danced around each other almost afraid to even touch each other, it was getting beyond ridiculous now.

Lily was now 8 months old and was still not doing much other than shuffling around on her bum and sitting up. It was on one very normal evening that the entire dynamic in the house changed. The television was on and Lily was sitting on the floor, Lisbon was putting washing away and Jane was flicking through the TV channels when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

"LISBON! She's going to crawl!" Jane yelled in his excitement, they'd spent weeks trying to get Lily to crawl but nothing had worked. Lisbon dropped the pile of washing and rushed into the room as Lily pushed herself onto her hands and knee's. Jane and Lisbon watched her as she began to push off, she'd done this before but hadn't actually crawled.

"She's about to do it." Lisbon said, as she watched the baby, and she was right this time, Lily slowly crawled a few inches and Lisbon gasped, "She's crawling!"

Jane grinned, he remembered how great this feeling was, he remembered how amazing it was to watch this and the feeling wasn't any less rewarding the second time around. Jane turned to Lisbon who threw her arms around him, they were both shocked at the touch at first but when he had gotten used to it Jane hugged Lisbon back. The touch seemed to spark something within them, they seemed to break a barrier down between them, an invisible wall.

Lisbon pulled back from the hug and caught Jane's eye. As she looked into those mesmerising blue eyes she saw the same emotions swimming there that were in her heart and she didn't hesitate any longer in closing the gap between them. When their lips touched it was like a fire was lit between them, Lisbon's eyes fluttered shut and she melted into his touch, the kiss was gentle and sweet at first but quickly became more passionate and heated as Jane and Lisbon came to terms with what was happening between them. Time seemed to stop as they kissed, they were oblivious to the world around them, until a loud crashing noise broke them apart.

Lisbon looked around for Lily and saw her innocently sitting at the other side of the room with Lisbon's laptop lying beside her, she was smiling sweetly at Lisbon and Jane as if she had done nothing wrong and Lisbon couldn't make herself feel angry, instead she laughed, "We need to child proof our house." She told Jane who joined in with her laughter as they watched the little girl take off and crawl out into the hall.

Lisbon hurried after Lily and Jane smiled as he followed, "We should really buy a couple of baby gates tomorrow." He told Lisbon as they grabbed Lily before she could start trying to climb the stairs. The kiss it seemed hadn't changed the easy dynamic between the two of them at all, in fact it made everything seem so much clearer.

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><p>When Teresa Lisbon woke up in the arms of a man she was startled, until she remembered who said man was and how she'd gotten there. When that thought came to mind she smiled into the sheets, she was lying in bed with Patrick Jane and they were raising a child together.<p>

Lisbon shifted in Jane's arms, turning around to face him, when she saw he was awake she smiled at him, "Good morning." She said happily.

Jane returned the smile, pulling Lisbon closer and kissing her lightly on the lips, "Good morning." He said, and it was indeed a very good morning, "I slept all night last night for the first time in years." Jane told Lisbon with a happy smile.

"I'm glad." Lisbon said, finding Jane's hand and taking it in hers, "Has Lily not gurned yet?" She asked, glancing at the baby monitor, they had one of the fancy ones with the camera and Lily was still lying asleep in the cot, the time was 6.30am.

" Not yet." Jane said, Lily had started waking up at 7am now and she ate more solid food and less bottles, she only got one bottle in the morning and one at night now.

"Hmm, its nice to not have to get up so early." Lisbon said, shuffling closer to Jane who agreed with a content, "Mmm."

"How long ago did you realise things had changed between us?" Lisbon asked Jane curiously, the man was silent for a moment as if in thought before replying, "A couple of months, when we were working that case and took Lily with us."

Lisbon chuckled, "It was around the same time for me." She admitted and Jane scoffed causing Lisbon to roll her eyes, "We were so silly to dance around the subject for so long."

"I know." Jane sighed, "But we got here eventually." He added, and Lisbon smiled, kissing him lightly on the lips, "We did." She agreed, after all that was the important thing.

"This changes everything." Lisbon voiced her worries to Jane who nodded, "Yes, it does." He said in agreement, "But that isn't necessarily a bad thing." He added.

"Pass me the CBI handbook in the top drawer." Lisbon said to Jane who leaned over and opened the drawer, it seemed to just have bits and bobs in it, he pulled out an old and worn book and handed it to Lisbon, watching her curiously as she flicked through it.

"A-hah, found it." Lisbon muttered, reading aloud the information she had been looking for, "A relationship of a sexual nature between any two Agents is an offence and will result in the immediate relocation of one or both Agents to different professions."

"I'm not an Agent though, I'm a Consultant." Jane reminded her, pointing out the obvious, Lisbon rolled her eyes, "Yes I am aware of that, I was getting to the small print."

"Oh, I see." Jane said sheepishly, he shot her a smile, "Carry on then."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes again Lisbon continued to read, "Sexual relationships between Agents and Consultants are questionable and a decision will be made by the head of department depending on circumstances, e.g. Is the Consultant long term or short term, what does he/she consult on? How many hours a day does he/she spend with the Agent?"

"So it's up to Hightower." Jane said thoughtfully, he grinned at Lisbon, "That should be easy enough, I'll charm her and we'll say since we're raising Lily together we need the same hours."

Lisbon nodded, "It could work." She said, "But then again Hightower can be tough so don't get too optimistic."

Jane smirked, "Trust me Teresa, she'll say its fine." He said confidently but before Lisbon could respond Lily let out a short cry from the room next door. Lisbon groaned, it was her turn today, she got up and dressed quickly, "I'll put breakfast on." She said before leaning down and kissing Jane on the lips and leaving the room, it felt like they did this every morning, it was just so easy, too easy almost.

As Lisbon picked Lily up and changed her nappy and dressed her she found herself wondering if it was too good to be true, she just had a bad feeling about something, she pushed the bad feeling to the back of her mind and took Lily downstairs. While the kettle was boiling and the toast was in the toaster Lisbon handed Lily her bottle, she could drink it herself now and she sat bouncing in her high chair as she drank the milk.

Lisbon found herself humming quite happily as she went about the breakfast and that was a very un-Lisbon thing to do, but she doubted anything could ruin her good mood today. The kettle whistled and Lisbon poured out the coffee and the tea, the toast popped and she put it out in the middle of the table with some butter and jam, "Patrick, breakfast is out!" Lisbon called up the stairs.

Lisbon heard movement upstairs just as the doorbell rang. She walked back down the hall, checking up on Lily on her way past the kitchen. She answered the door to find the postman, he'd been shocked at the news of Thomas and his wife passing away but had spoken to Lisbon and Jane every morning and this morning was no different.

"Morning Teresa." The Postman, Terry, said.

"Morning Terry." Lisbon said pleasantly as he handed over three letters and a brown envelope, "That was posted 1st class." Terry said, pointing at the brown envelope, "Is it someone's birthday?"

Lisbon shook her head, frowning slightly, "No, I've no idea what it could be." She said truthfully as she took the letters.

"Have a good day." Terry said as he made his way back along the path, "You too." Lisbon called after him, shutting the door and walking back to the kitchen, the letters were standard, electricity bill, car insurance and a letter from the lawyer, nothing special.

When Lisbon re-entered the kitchen Jane was sitting there eating his toast, Lisbon put the letters on the table and opened the curious brown envelope, Jane watched her with a frown.

When Lisbon pulled out the envelopes contents she gasped and dropped them all over the floor, Jane panicked and anxiously picked two of the three objects up, they were photographs, one of Jane and Lisbon kissing and another of Lily crawling, both had been taken through the living room window the night before, from a distance by the looks of it.

Jane felt sick to his stomach as he picked up the 3rd item which was a handwritten letter. With shaking hands Jane unfolded it,

"_Hello Mr. Jane," _It said.

"_I see that you have got yourself a new family for me to destroy. This pleases me greatly, I was beginning to get a little bored, I could always use some fresh blood. I'm watching you, and that pretty little baby too."_

The letter was signed in a red smiley face, the face was clearly made from blood as it had dried and was a horrible deep scarlet colour. Jane dropped the letter onto the table, his face chalk white as he looked up at Lisbon.

"It's him, isn't it?" Lisbon said weakly.

Jane nodded as he lifted Lily from her high chair, "I'm going to pack all three of us a bag, call Hightower, we need to get out of here."

Lisbon nodded, still very panicky but she knew Jane was right, she picked up her cell as Jane hurried up the stairs with Lily. The first person Lisbon called was Hightower, "Sorry to call so early on a Saturday Ma'am but we just received a message from Red John threatening all three of us, it was including pictures he took through the living room window."

Lisbon looked out of the kitchen window as she listened intently to her Boss, "Yes, a safe house, that's what we thought, okay." She was saying, feeling sicker by the second, she just wanted this to be over, this had never hit her so close to home before, she knew how Jane felt now, she knew if anything ever happened to her or Lily Jane would never be able to forgive himself.

"Okay, when will the team be here?" Lisbon asked anxiously, Hightower replied and Lisbon thanked her then hung up the phone, Jane appeared a couple of minutes later, still pale and sick looking. He was holding a large rucksack which he dropped on the kitchen floor.

"The team will be here in half an hour." Lisbon told Jane, "We're getting outta here."

**TBC.**

**DUN DUN DUN, I know you hate me for making RJ be in it but it makes the story more interesting! Sorry! **


	9. Difficult Choices & Sacrifices

_Life as We Know It_

_Chapter 9 - Difficult Choices & Sacrifices_

_**A/N - Its getting by the minute! :o but its okay, it has a happy ending, I think xD**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p><em><em>"Patrick?"

Jane looked over at the woman in the darkness, her eyes were dark and she looked haunted, "Yeah?" He said softly.

Lisbon reached across the bed and grabbed his hand, lying between them was Lily, both of them were too afraid to let her out of their sight, they had been in this safe house for the past 4 days and it had been hard for Jane and Lisbon to come to terms with everything.

Jane had been quiet and withdrawn, he didn't sleep at night, but Lisbon barely did either, both of them were afraid if they left Lily for two seconds something terrible would happen to her.

"I hate this." Lisbon admitted and Jane was sure she was crying, Lisbon rarely showed any weakness so that only showed how much this was affecting her.

"I know." Jane said quietly, "I do too." He doubted she'd understand how he felt, how guilty he felt, this was all his fault, why did he have to settle down? Why did he have to fall in love again? He'd put them both in danger because he was so selfish, he'd wanted to feel that rush again, he wanted to feel happy again and now Lisbon and Lily's lives were in danger because of that selfishness, he doubted he'd ever come to terms with that. Even worse Jane knew if anything happened to either of them because of him he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"Do you think he'll find us?" Lisbon asked, and he could tell from her voice now that she was definitely crying.

Truthfully Jane was sure Red John would find them, he had people in the CBI, depending how high up they were it would either be relatively easy or slightly difficult but he'd find their location and he'd find a loophole in the security and weasel his way in. Jane knew it was only a matter of time before he got to them but he didn't plan on telling Lisbon that. Instead Jane shrugged, "I hope not." He said which was the truth, but it was also true that Red John would find them eventually.

"I don't know what I would do without her." Lisbon whispered to Jane, gently touching the sleeping girls cheek. As the patrol light of the helicopter protecting them shone through the window Jane caught a glimpse of Lisbon's face and saw the tears streaming down it. He sighed, "Neither do I." He admitted, "I had started to see her as my own."

"In my mind now she's my daughter." Lisbon explained, wiping the tears from her cheek, "I love her so much, I can't have anything happen to her." She shook her head, refusing to even think about it.

Jane closed his eyes, trying to push away the sick feeling he'd had in his gut for the past few days, it was hard to believe that only a few days ago they had been happy and carefree, lying in bed together, knowing Lily was safe in the room next door. Now here they were, both of them panicky, depressed and feeling worse than they ever had in their lives. Jane longed to go back to when it was all so simple and he knew Lisbon felt the same.

They were quiet for a while, both of them just lying there watching Lily sleep, she knew something was wrong, she'd gurned and cried in the night a lot more lately, but Lisbon hoped she'd adjust soon, this was hard enough without having to worry about Lily's routine becoming erratic.

"I feel sick." Lisbon said suddenly, standing up and hurrying into the bathroom down the hall, Jane frowned as he heard her being violently sick, this had happened every night since they had gotten here, he didn't know what she was throwing up because they barely ate anything, just like they barely slept. Jane had a constant sick feeling but he had not yet physically been sick.

As Lisbon threw up again Jane winced, it sounded even worse than the first time. He knew he had to go and make sure he was okay but he didn't want to leave Lily, he decided to just leave for a moment and with a quick glance at the little girl he stood up and hurried down the hall to the bathroom where the door was slightly ajar.

When Jane walked in Lisbon was sick for a third time but it was then that Jane noticed she wasn't throwing up something she'd eaten, she was throwing up blood and immediately Jane panicked, "Teresa, this is bad, Teresa." He fell to his knee's next to her.

Lisbon shook her head, "No, I'm fine. It's Lily we need to worry about." She said, being sick again and the sight of the blood made Jane feel even more sick and worried than he had been before.

"Teresa, how long?" Jane asked gently, if she had been throwing up blood since they got here she must have lost so much blood and Jane knew throwing up blood was always a bad sign.

"It doesn't matter." She said in a hoarse voice, "Lily." She gasped, and she tried to stand up but her knees gave way beneath her and she crashed to the floor. Jane tried to help her up but Lisbon shook him off, more frantic than ever now, "Go check on Lily!" She screamed at Jane and when they both heard Lily cry out Jane shot from the room and ran the short distance to the bedroom where he found an empty bed and an open window.

"No." Jane whispered as he hurried to the 1st story window and jumped out of it, he looked around the perimeter and saw guards everywhere but no one with a baby, "NO!" He screamed, falling to his knees on the wet grass, it was just after 1am and it was pitch black.

A guard hurried over to him and asked, "Mr. Jane is everything alright?"

Jane glared at the man, "No! He took our daughter, you clearly didn't do your job!" He shouted, aware of the tears streaming down his face but not bothering to wipe them away.

The security guard called for back-up and the small quiet countryside area got very loud as everyone shot into action. Jane sat there for a few minutes, kneeling in the wet grass before he eventually climbed back in the window, on the bed where Lily had last been there was a note in an envelope with a red smiley face on it.

Jane picked the envelope up feeling guiltier than ever, this was all his fault, he should never have left Lily alone, he should have stayed with her. Why the hell did he not stay with her? Goddamn it! Jane picked up the envelope feeling angrier than ever, he ripped it open and read the single sentence the letter contained.

"_Mr. Jane. As I'm sure you have figured out I have taken your daughter, she is only leverage of course, I won't hurt her unless you don't do exactly as I tell you to do. If you want your daughter back give yourself up, meet me at the place of most importance to you. Do not take more than 72 hours."_

Clutching the note tightly in his hand and feeling as if he was going to throw up at any minute Jane walked into the bathroom where he found Lisbon sitting on the cold tiled floor, resting her head against the bathroom wall. She had tears running down her face and didn't seem at all bothered about hiding them. Jane slumped down next to her, letting the crumpled note fall to the ground.

"She's gone." Lisbon croaked, it wasn't a question.

Jane took her hand and nodded, he wasn't sure if he could speak, "Yes." He replied, his voice breaking. In that moment as he pulled Lisbon close to him and enveloped her in a hug he broke down too, the tears streamed down his face and he shook with silent sobs, Lisbon's sobs were less silent and the sound of them made Jane's heart ache.

It seemed like hours passed before anyone turned up or even came into the bathroom but it could have only been minutes for all they knew. In that moment they were both thinking the same thing, if Red John had gotten their daughter they were never going to see her again. Jane was killing himself with guilt and Lisbon was just overcome with grief, she'd come to love Lily so much in the short term she had raised her and losing her now was her worst nightmare, she had envisioned a future with the little girl, she had seen in her mind her first steps, her first Christmas, sending her off to school on her first day, her first school show, her first day at high school, her first prom. Now all Lisbon could think about was a funeral with a tiny casket.

The two of them acknowledged the sound of sirens but didn't pause to wonder what the noises meant or who they belonged too. They probably wouldn't have paid attention unless someone walked in holding Lily, in the short space of time since they'd been lying in bed and sitting here on the bathroom floor in their minds and through the way they spoke they had begun to regard Lily as 'their daughter' or 'our daughter'.

The door to the bathroom opened for the first time and brought Jane and Lisbon out of their grief induced trance with a snap. Standing in the doorway, their faces almost as pale as Jane and Lisbon's stood four people. At the front of the group there was Hightower who looked sickened by what was going on, behind her looked a very anxious Grace, a stoic Cho and an uneasy looking Rigsby.

"I know you are going through hell." Hightower said gently, she had kids, she really knew this feeling, "But if we're going to catch the bastard you've got to help us."

Jane nodded, standing and catching a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror. His eyes were red and bloodshot and he had dark bags underneath them and his cheeks were stained red from the tears he hadn't been able to control. He wiped his face, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Teresa was being sick and I was worried so I came in to check on her but I shouldn't have left Lily." He shook his head, "Shouldn't have left her." He mumbled. Grace had walked into the small room, she placed a hand on his shoulder, "You had to check on Lisbon, it's alright, just tell us what happened." She said in her soft, calming voice.

Jane's eyes were unfocused and his mind was faraway as he said, "I went to check on her and she was gone and the window was open, but she was gone."

Grace shot a worried look to Rigsby and calmed Jane, "Look Jane you have to snap out of this, I know you feel horrible right now but you have to come into the CBI and help us."

Lisbon seemed to have snapped out of her trance too, she had stood and wiped her face, she pulled her hair back and looked at Jane, determination gleaming in her eyes, "Grace is right, we need to help them to get her back."

Seeing Lisbon back to herself seemed to make something stir within Jane and he nodded, looking to the team, "Okay." He said and they looked relieved that they had convinced the two.

"This guy has already got the death penalty on him, if we see him its shoot to kill so we are going to do this." Hightower said, the same determination in her eyes that Jane had just seen in Lisbon's.

"Any leads?" Lisbon asked as they made their way to the SUV that was waiting outside, she had to be strong to get Lily back, sitting around crying wasn't going to help her daughter at all.

"Two." Hightower replied once they were in the car and moving so that no one could overhear, "We did a lot of digging, we are stuck between two people but one of them is definitely Red John."

"How did you narrow it down to two people?" Lisbon asked in surprise.

"Oh, that was all Agent Van Pelt." Hightower said and Grace nodded, "Well in my spare time I was doing some research on the whole thing and I figured Red John was probably some kind of anagram so I found two people with variations of 'John' and 'Red' in their name, one is Johnson Redford and the other is Jack John Redcap, both of them have no criminal record but Redford was in the army until he was thrown out for abandonment. Redcap has severe burns to 40% of his body. Both of them dropped completely off the map, one even faked his own death. I cross referenced them with the false identities database and Redford has had 32 fake identities and has lived in 42 states. Redcap has had 41 fake identities and has lived in all 50 states at some point and some areas of Canada too."

Jane was frowning as he processed all of this, he had figured it out, he knew who Red John was, he wasn't going to tell the team that of course, he had to do this alone, he wasn't going to risk the lives of anymore people. Now all Jane had to do was figure out what the murderer had meant by 'the place of most importance to you'…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	10. Life Can Do Terrible Things

_Life as We Know It_

_Chapter 10 - Life Can Do Terrible Things_

_**A/N - The title of the chapter is from the song "Terrible Things" by Mayday Parade. This chapter is pretty dramatic but then it gets happier, hopefully, I have no idea where this fic is going to end up, I'm just rolling with it, I reckon it will only have 3 or 4 chapters left though.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, nought, nada, zilch!**_

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><p><em><em>The team got back to the CBI and Grace was trying to find out more on the two possible Red Johns, Hightower was making phone calls and Rigsby and Cho were recruiting anyone they could find to help out in the investigation with the excuse that, "This is Jane and Lisbon's kid, c'mon guys!"

Soon the bullpen was full to the brim with over half of the CBI who wanted to help find Lily and take Red John down once and for all. With the room being so busy it was easy for Jane to sneak out. He got in his car and drove past the slightly suspicious security guard, the moment he was out of the car park he took off and looped several times to make sure he wasn't being followed. Jane had no idea where to go. He knew that Red John was Jack John Redcap, the burnt man. He knew this because when he'd seen Red John in that old building with the fake Red John's the man had worn a plastic mask similar to the ones that people wore over fresh burns to protect them from infection. It all made sense now. The team would never cotton onto that though because Jane had never told anyone about that night and had never once mentioned the mask, he'd been too pre-occupied by the poem.

As Jane drove aimlessly he thought of possible places Red John could be, he could only think of a few places that were of importance to him. There was his Malibu house but he doubted it would be there, that was too obvious and Red John wouldn't want the team to walk in during their little showdown. Another place of importance was the graveyard but Jane knew that was far too public for the epic showdown the murderer had planned. The carnival was of importance because that was where they first met and it was ideal, it was abandoned, decaying and eerily empty, it was off the beaten road but then again he just didn't think that was where Red John would be. The answer was at the back of his mind but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Red John wanted it to be slightly public but not too public to be heard. He wanted it to be obvious but not obvious enough to get caught. He wanted somewhere where no living soul would know Jane would go, somewhere that no one alive would know of the importance it held. Jane wracked his brains for the happiest memories he shared with his wife and after a few moments of deep thought as well as running two red lights the answer hit Jane.

His happiest memory of his wife was their wedding day. The Church they had gotten married in was small and off the beaten road. There were a few houses nearby, an old shut down mill factory and the little chapel on top of the hill, it was very small and picturesque. It was where Jane and Angela's life together had begun so it would be Red John's sick way of saying it should be where the whole thing was put to an end. Charlotte had been christened in that little chapel too, it made sense that Red John chose it, the place did mean a lot to Jane.

A new determination sparking in his bones Jane sped up, he did a quick U-turn and headed in the direction of the old chapel, going back there was going to be hard but if it meant the end of Red John then he would happily stride back into that building. Gripping the gun in his left hand Jane drove faster yet, he didn't care about being stopped, he had to get there fast. He hadn't been able to save his first daughter, he was going to save his second.

Jane wasn't sure how long it would take to get there but soon he was on a dirt track road and kept glancing in his mirrors to make sure he wasn't being followed, it would be easy to see on a road like this. The drive seemed to go on forever and after what felt like hours Jane saw the church looming out from the distance, it was the first thing you saw with it being so high up. It looked eerie in the early morning sky, it was a bright flaming orange tinged with shades of pink and outlined like a large shadow against the bright sky was the small chapel, not quite as picturesque as he remembered it. The chapel had fallen into ruin and Jane suddenly wondered if he had been wrong about the location.

As he pulled up next to the gate leading into the graveyard Jane glanced around, the area was silent, almost too quiet really. Feeling slightly creeped out Jane opened the gate and made his way up the hill, his heart pounded faster as the adrenaline pumped through his veins, he was so close and he wasn't even afraid, the moment he'd been waiting for was finally here. As he neared the top of the hill his throat became dry and his heart pounded so fast he thought it might burst out of his chest.

Jane reached the top of the hill and took a minute to take in the sight before him. The chapel had definitely deteriorated, it clearly wasn't in use anymore. The windows were all gone so the cool morning breeze could blow through the large hall. The roof was falling apart and tiles lay crumpled and smashed all around the outer edge of the building, The double doors were hanging off of their hinges but were still obscuring the view of the inside of the chapel. Holding the gun tight in his hand Jane pushed the door open slightly and walked into the chapel.

The inside was just as ruined as the outside. The tiles that had fallen had left large gaps in the roof and the rain had rotted away parts of the wooden pews. There were smashed tiles littered around the floor as well as leaves and dead animals, it wasn't a pretty sight. His wife had walked down this aisle but now it was just a messy wooden floor that had half rotted away. Jane looked down, directly ahead of him there was a man standing with his back to Jane, he felt a little fear then, he had finally found Red John and he was slightly unsure of what to do now. Jane noticed a blanket on one of the pews near the front of the chapel and was relieved to see Lily lying inside the blanket sleeping, if she hadn't moved at that moment he would have panicked.

"Mr. Jane." The man said without turning around, "You came." Red John's voice was deep and cold, it sent a chill running through Jane, it sounded very different to the voice he had heard when Red John had talked to him before, Jane had been suspicious of a voice changer back then and now his suspicions were confirmed.

"I wasn't going to let you hurt anyone else I love." Jane said defiantly and Red John chuckled but it was a humourless laugh, it was cold and high pitched and bitter.

"You love this child? She is not even yours." Red John said, he still hadn't turned to face Jane, and he was now mocking the mentalist.

"By blood you're right, she isn't." Jane said truthfully, keeping his voice strong and steady, "But unlike you I have the capacity to love and despite her not being my child by blood, in my heart she is my daughter."

Red John laughed another humourless high pitched laugh, "You are a fool Patrick Jane." He said softly as he turned around. Jane realised he was right about Red John's identity the moment he saw the mans face. His entire face was a deep pink colour due to the burns that covered it, his eyes were reduced to slits due to the extreme nature of the burns and he barely had a nose, he didn't have any lips either, he looked like some sort of alien.

Jane kept his composure as he stared at the man, this seemed to impress Red John, "You do not flinch." He said, moving a couple of steps closer to Jane.

Jane didn't say anything as he continued to glare at the man, he wasn't backing down, Red John advanced a little more, "Most people flinch, they can't look at me, I disgust them."

Bitterly Jane said, "Oh you disgust me alright but it has nothing to do with the way you look."

Red John laughed again and it sent shivers up Jane's spine, it was the strangest sounding laugh he'd ever heard. The man had stopped walking towards Jane, "I assume before you attempt to kill me you want to know why I killed your family." He said casually, as if this was no big deal.

"You bet I do." Jane said, not taking his eyes away from Red John's.

Red John nodded, pulling out a gun and aiming at Jane, in a second Jane had raised his gun to point at Red John in retaliation.

"Ah, you have a weapon, I'm impressed." Red John said, there were hints of mockery in his voice, "Well Mr. Jane, I killed your family in retaliation to something you did to me. My wife was a client of yours until you convinced her to leave me after sleeping with her multiple times."

Jane tried not to let his shock show on his face, he'd only ever slept with two of his clients, he'd been married to his wife at the time and had been so ashamed of what he'd done that he hadn't told a soul. Jane had loved Angela very much but he was young, rich and famous and these pretty girls were throwing themselves at him and he hadn't resisted it.

"Ah, you remember her I see." Red John said, as if this gave him some satisfaction, "I faked my own death in a fire not long after and then when everyone thought I was dead a couple of years later I struck, I killed my wife first and then I killed your family. After that I found that I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't stop." Red John was saying, still ever so casually as if he was telling Jane about a story he had read in the morning paper.

Jane hadn't spoken and Red John looked at him now, as if expecting him to have something to say on the matter, "Rosalyn came to me because her Husband had been hitting her and because she was worried he was going to kill her, she asked me to consult the cards and I did and told her she should be worried if her Husband was being so violent." Jane said truthfully.

"And she became worried and left me." Red John said, "Yes, it was a very difficult time, but I suppose in the end it shows your own arrogance is the reason your family died."

"No." Jane objected, somehow still maintaining a calm façade, "They died because some sick madman killed them."

Red John raised an eyebrow at Jane which looked odd because he had no eyebrows but the skin moved in that motion, "If that's what helps you sleep at night." He was mocking Jane of course, it didn't surprise him that Red John knew he was an insomniac.

"I know why you chose this place." Jane said, keen to change the subject, he wanted to keep Red John talking for as long as possible, it gave him a better chance to take the psycho by surprise.

"I thought you might have figured it out." Red John said, glancing around the chapel, "It only makes sense that your life should end where the life of your family began." He said, his eyes raking over the rotten pews and the half destroyed roof, "It's rather poetic, don't you think?"

"If you call murder poetic, sure." Jane said, his voice thick with dry humour and sarcasm, but he wasn't being funny, he was serious and he just wanted this entire ordeal to be over.

"Oh it can be." Red John assured Jane, his gun still pointing at his head, "In certain circumstances it certainly can be poetic."

"In this case it isn't and it never has been." Jane said, his finger twitching on the trigger, Red John caught the small motion and narrowed his already small eyes at Jane.

"Are you going to kill me Mr. Jane?" He asked, his voice mocking Jane once more as if he was incapable of such a thing.

"I'm certainly going to try." Jane said, his finger remaining as still as possible, he wanted to do this properly, either they both went down together or Red John went down alone, that was the way this was going to work.

"Good." Red John said, the hint of a smirk forming on his deformed face, "Good, I like a challenge." The smirk became more prominent and Jane stared him down. His eyes never leaving Red Johns. That minute felt so long as Jane waited for the perfect moment, surveying the things going on in his enemy's eyes. Those eyes were cold and dead, there were no emotions in them but Jane could see the precise and logical thinking, the concentration, the determination, the excitement of finally finishing the job he had started years ago. When a cold need to kill flashed through Red John's eyes Jane knew and he pulled his finger down over the trigger, as the bullet left the gun in slow motion Jane closed his eyes and listened intently to every single sound around him just in case it was the last time he would ever hear them.

Two shots echoed around the chapel and drifted up through the rafters into the early morning night sky, and then, all was silent.

**To Be Continued! **

**DON'T HATE ME! :'(**


	11. Finally the End

_Life as We Know It_

_Chapter 11 - Finally the End_

_**A/N - It's the end of the battle, finally. If only season 3 had ended this way, it would have been way better in my expert opinion.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! Bruno Heller created them, I'm just playing with them.**_

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><p><em><em>Patrick Jane's breathing was coming in short gasps as he tried to get air into his lungs as fast as possible. The world around him had just spun very quickly and was only now beginning to come into focus, his ears popped and his head pounded, he was aware of a sharp pain in his leg too as he pried open his eyes and looked around the chapel. A piece of broken tile dug into his stomach, ripping through his shirt as he tried to get up, Jane winced in pain as he pushed himself into a sitting position against one of the pews. A sharp cry broke out and Jane realised the noise had awoken Lily. Jane tried to stand and cried out in pain as his leg gave way, a glance down told him that his leg was bleeding heavily, he cursed under his breath as the pain shot through his entire body, Lily was crying, she needed him and he couldn't reach her. Jane looked around, finally seeing Red John, he was lying spread eagle on his back with a shot to the heart and a shot to the head, Jane frowned, only two shots had rang out and one had hit him, where had the 3rd shot come from?

Red John had no face now, not that he had before, the burns had already messed it up beyond repair. The bullet that had hit him in the head had to be of a pretty big calibre because it had literally smashed his head apart, there was a pool of blood around him which was trickling closer and closer to where Lily lay. Wincing Jane dragged himself as fast as he could across the room to where she was lying, he reached the little girl and the second Jane picked her up her crying ceased. Aware he was sitting in a pool of not only his blood but Red John's too Jane stopped moving, he leaned back against the pew where Lily had been, all his energy had been zapped from him in that short movement to get to his daughter.

As Janes eyes slid shut and he felt incredibly sleepy a loud noise jerked him awake, the doors crashed open and an assault team hurried through, led by Rigsby, Hightower and Grace, the 20 or so Agents halted when they saw the dead body and Jane holding the baby.

"I didn't kill him." Jane said, his voice hoarse and quiet, "Someone fired a 3rd shot."

From the back of the group of Agent's someone said, "That would be me." And the owner of the voice came forward.

Jane grinned, "Good shot Cho my man." He said breathily, wincing as his leg began to ache more than ever.

"Please tell me you've called an ambulance." Jane said to the group as a whole.

Cho nodded, "I called the minute I saw you take the shot, if I hadn't shot him when I did it might have gotten you in the head."

Jane shuddered, "Then I'm glad you shot when you did." He said, looking around the group for the one face he wanted to see, the one he needed to see, "Where's Teresa?" Jane asked.

Hightower and Grace exchanged a glance as if they knew it would be the first thing Jane asked. Hightower answered, "We made her wait in the car but I doubt she'll stay there long."

As if on cue Jane heard Lisbon's voice, "Move please, that's my daughter in there, seriously get out of the way, thank you!" She was saying, pushing through the crowd. The moment she appeared at the front she stopped and stared at the two of them, it was as if she couldn't really believe that they were okay so she was taking it all in.

Jane smiled softly at her and she hurried over to them, dropping down on her knees next to the pair of them. Lisbon wrapped her arms around Jane, careful not to crush Lily, she kissed him lightly on the lips, resting her forehead against his, "Oh God, I was so worried when you vanished like that, but you're alive and you saved Lily, oh thank God." Lisbon muttered, closing her eyes and taking in the moment.

"It's okay Teresa." Jane said, his voice still a little hoarse, "Lily's fine and this will only be a flesh wound, it's fine."

"Flesh wound." Lisbon scoffed, looking at the wound, "Have you seen how much blood is coming out of that thing?" She asked, ripping part of her top off and pressing down hard on the wound to stop the bleeding until the ambulance arrived.

"Ma'am, I'll do that." A young female Agent offered, walking forwards as the rest of the assault team watched the scene with slight amusement, the female members of the team seemed to find it rather sweet.

Lisbon looked up at the Agent, she smiled at Lisbon, "That way you can hold your baby."

The gesture was simple but Lisbon appreciated it so much, "Oh, thank you Agent Samuels." She said, and she allowed the young Agent to take over on pressing the cloth to the wound. Lisbon wiped the blood from her hands and took Lily from Jane, she looked at Lisbon with her big green eyes and cuddled into her chest. Lisbon sighed with relief, they were both okay, all three of them were okay. It was going to be okay.

The moment it seemed for the Agents was over as they were back to work now. Several were examining Red John's body and taking pieces of evidence and bagging them, this was huge, Red John, the notorious serial killer had been killed. The only people who remained with Jane were Lisbon, Grace, Rigsby and Cho.

"You gonna be alright man?" Rigsby asked, sitting down on one of the sturdier of the pews.

Jane nodded, catching Lisbon's eye, "I'm gonna be just fine." He said with a smile.

"Don't you want to know how we found you here?" Grace asked, smirking at Lisbon who chuckled. This made Jane narrow his eyes at Lisbon, "What did you do?"

Lisbon smiled, "I anticipated something like this would happen so I installed a GPS tracking device in your car." She admitted.

Jane would normally have been annoyed but considering how the device had saved his life he was pretty thankful, "Well, thanks, I'm glad you found me."

"I thought you might be." Lisbon said, smiling still, this was all over, he sensed that she was just as happy about that as he was. Jane could really move forward now with Lisbon and Lily, his past was gone, he could finally put it behind him.

"Hey Cho, when did you learn to aim like that?" Jane asked, turning his gaze away from Lisbon to look at the stoic Agent.

Cho replied, "When I was in the Army. I was a sniper in Iraq."

"You were a pretty good one I guess." Jane remarked and Cho nodded, giving Jane a small smile, "It hasn't come in handy for a while." He joked but Jane really appreciated what Cho had done for him.

A voice from a little further away where Red John's body was examined said, "Well, he's definitely dead." Hightower said, smiling at the team, "Good work."

Lisbon smiled, grabbing Jane's hand, "It was all thanks to you Patrick."

Jane just shrugged, "I'm just glad he's gone." He said honestly, "We can finally get on with our life."

Lisbon grinned at the use of the word 'we', he considered them as a family now, just like Lisbon did.

Hightower noticed too but didn't say anything, this was too good a day to be ruined by rules and regulations, she didn't want to do anything that would spoil the great feeling right now, the content feeling, the relief at how things had panned out.

Breaking the sounds of chatter and the wind was a loud noise, the sound of sirens as they screeched to a halt outside the graveyard gates. Jane chuckled as he imagined the ambulance guys struggling with the hill.

A few minutes later 4 men hurried into the room with a gurney. One of the paramedics relieved Young Agent Samuels, he pressed the cloth tight to Jane's leg as the other three lifted him onto the gurney. Lisbon's hand slipped out of his as they carried him away.

"I'm going with him." Lisbon told the team who nodded as if they had expected no less of her.

"We'll meet you at the hospital." Hightower said, smiling happily at them both, she seemed just as happy about the events of the day. As Lisbon hurried after the ambulance guys holding Lily tight to her chest she heard Hightower say to the group of people, "Alright guys, lets wrap this crime scene up."

Lisbon walked silently behind the gurney as they wheeled Jane away and the paramedics hadn't even looked at her yet, three of them were pushing it and the 4th paramedic was sitting on the gurney, keeping the cloth pressed tightly to the wound.

When they reached the ambulance they turned and saw Lisbon, one of the paramedics said, "I'm sorry Ma'am, only direct family are allowed in the ambulance."

"She's my Wife and that's my daughter." Jane said, and immediately the man looked apologetic, "Oh I'm sorry Ma'am." He said, standing aside to let Lisbon in.

Lisbon slid into a seat next to the gurney and took Jane's hand, he smiled at her and focused his eyes on Lily, "She's going to be okay Teresa."

Lisbon nodded, "She's just fine." She said, "I think he gave her a sedative so I'll get her checked out just in case, but look at her, she's alive and that's all thanks to you, you saved her."

Jane smiled, the thought made him feel proud and that was something he hadn't felt in a long time, for years all he had felt was shame, "Yeah." He said softly, "I did."

One of the paramedics turned to the family and asked, "Can I take your details?"

"He's Patrick Daniel Jane, 39, blood type B positive." Lisbon told the man who nodded and wrote the information down on his clipboard, Jane was impressed that Lisbon knew this, but he didn't let it show.

"And you are?" The paramedic asked, and Lisbon replied, "Teresa Abigail Jane, and our daughter Lily Nancy Jane." Lisbon lied, it wasn't as if they were going check it out anyway, they just needed the contact information. Lisbon told the man their cell phone numbers and house number and he seemed satisfied.

"Alright Mr. Jane, the wound doesn't look too bad but it may have clipped a large vein which would explain the loss of blood." Another paramedic explained, "Do you feel sluggish at all?"

"A little." Jane replied, the man nodded, "Any dizziness or nausea?"

"Dizziness yes, nausea no." Jane answered and the paramedic nodded again, "And you're talking and alert which is a good thing. When we get to the hospital we are going to take you into surgery to remove the bullet and repair any muscle damage the bullet may have caused, then we're going to seal it up and hopefully you'll make a quick recovery."

Jane nodded, "Good." He said, fighting the tired feeling that was threatening to take over him. Lisbon squeezed his hand tighter in an effort to keep him awake and it worked. Luckily a few minutes later the ambulance stopped and they arrived at the hospital. The doors opened and Jane was wheeled inside and into an elevator, the paramedic turned to Lisbon, "I'm sorry Ma'am but you can't come any further, if you could wait in waiting room 4B we'll give you news as soon as possible." He said quickly as the elevator doors slid shut.

Lisbon took a moment to compose herself and then looked around the reception area, she walked over to the Nurse's desk where a surprisingly familiar woman smiled at her, "Teresa! Hey!"

Lisbon smiled when she saw the woman, "Taylor, hey!" She greeted the Nurse, she had gone to high school with Taylor and only saw her a couple of times a year.

"What are you doing here?" Taylor asked, looking at the blood on Lisbon's clothes and on Lily.

"Oh there was a shooting, my-" Lisbon cut herself off, not sure what to call him, "Boyfriend was shot in the leg, he's in surgery. I just wanted to get my daughter checked out because I think she might have been given a sedative."

"Well you are lucky it's a quiet day and that I'm training to be a neo-natal surgeon." Taylor said, walking around the desk and motioning for Lisbon to follow her, she got the impression Taylor had many questions but wouldn't ask them until they were in a more private place. Taylor led the way up the stairs to the nursery level and showed Lisbon into a small examination room.

The minute the door shut the questions started, "A shooting? What happened? And why do you think your daughter was given a sedative? And why didn't you tell me you had a baby?"

Lisbon answered her questions in the order she had asked, "My boyfriend killed Red John because he's Patrick Jane who I told you about and Red John killed his family. Red John kidnapped Lily to blackmail us but I think he might have given her a sedative because she was a little sluggish when we found her, and I didn't have a baby, Thomas died and in his will left everything to me, including his daughter and Patrick is helping me raise her, but we ended up getting together in the process." During this speech Lisbon had handed Lily over to her friend who was performing tests on her with a stethoscope and other instruments.

"Wow and to think its only been 5 months since we spoke." Taylor said frowning slightly, she removed her stethoscope and said, "Well she was definitely given a sedative but it was diluted, the effects have pretty much worn off, she might fall asleep and sleep for a longer time than usual, 2 hours at the most but other than that she's perfectly healthy, whoever gave her the sedative was careful with the dosage to make sure it wouldn't kill her, my guess is that it was a Doctor."

Taylor handed Lily back to Lisbon who nodded, "It wouldn't surprise me, he had contacts everywhere." Lisbon said, sighing and glancing at Lily with worry in her eyes, she did look very sleepy but if Taylor said that was normal she trusted her.

"There's something else." Lisbon said, Jane had been right, she should check it out, "When she went missing I felt sick and I was throwing up blood for a few days, its stopped now but I figure there's no harm checking it out."

Taylor nodded, "Coughing or throwing up blood is never good." She said, sticking something in Lisbon's throat and looking down with a light, she 'hmm-ed' and said, "The acidic levels are really high, its probably the same in your stomach, its caused by stress and lack of food, your stomach starts to digest itself and causes more acidic fluid in your stomach which can make you vomit blood."

"Is it serious?" Lisbon asked, worried about herself for the first time in days, she felt hungry for the first time in days too which she assumed was a good sign.

Taylor shook her head and wrote a prescription, "3 of these with 3 meals every day for the next week should sort it out, just make sure to eat something as soon as possible, you might be sick but getting food in your body is really important."

Lisbon nodded, "I will, I promise." She said as Taylor handed her the prescription, "Thank you Taylor, I'll call you soon, I swear."

Taylor smiled, hugging her friend, "You better." She teased as Lisbon left the examination room, tucking her prescription in her pocket, she knew by the time the team got here and Jane was out of surgery she'd have everything sorted so she popped across the road to the chemist part of the hospital and got her prescription filled. Once she had it she went back to the café in the hospital and got herself a sandwich and a jar of food for Lily. As Lisbon sat in the café eating her sandwich and feeding Lily she forgot about what had happened for a moment, she just felt like a normal person. Lisbon had taken off her blood stained jacket and thrown it in the bin and she'd also thrown her ripped shirt in the bin, it was a sunny enough day to be wearing just a vest top and her trousers were clean. Lisbon had thrown away the blanket that was covered in blood and had also thrown away Lily's blood stained cardigan, as she fed Lily in the high chair they just looked like normal people.

Once Lily was fed and Lisbon had taken her pill with her sandwich Lisbon hoisted Lily onto her hip and entered the hospital, she made her way up to waiting room 4B and checked her phone, she didn't have any texts but she sent one out to Grace saying_, 'In waiting room 4B, Jane in surgery, doc says he should be okay x'_

Lisbon then put her phone on silent and waited, bouncing Lily on her knee to keep her amused, the motion only made her tired and the little girl fell asleep in Lisbons lap, Lisbon smiled, rocking her gently back and forth to keep her asleep.

She wasn't sure how much time passed but the morning flew by and Taylor turned up with a sandwich and sat down next to Lisbon, "Eat this and take your afternoon pill." She instructed and Lisbon did so, sitting and catching up with her friend as she ate. When lunch hour was over Taylor left to get back to work and not longer after a balding man with a kind face walked over to her, "Mrs. Jane?" He asked and Lisbon smiled at him, "Yes?"

The Doctor said politely, "Your Husband is out of surgery but is not yet awake, the bullet didn't do any permanent damage, walking will be a little painful for a couple of weeks but within a month he should be back to normal." Lisbon had known the wound hadn't been bad but she was still relieved to hear this.

"Can I see him?" Lisbon asked and the Doctor nodded, "Of course, I'll take you to his room." He said and being careful not to wake Lily she stood and followed the man along a few corridors and up two staircases, eventually they reached the room and the Doctor smiled as Lisbon thanked him.

When Lisbon walked into the small room Jane was indeed asleep, and Lily was getting heavier, she always seemed so much heavier when she was asleep. Glancing around Lisbon grabbed some pillows and lay Lily down on the floor on the pillows, she avoided the couch in case the little girl rolled off. Lisbon sank down onto the sofa, her eyes going from her daughter to Jane, it was almost as if she had to keep assuring herself that they really were there. Lisbon was about to take her phone out and call the team when the door opened and they piled in, all the noise woke Lily up but she didn't cry she just looked around the strange room and crawled over to Cho, he stopped walking and looked down as Lily grabbed his trouser leg and pulled.

"She wants you to pick her up." Lisbon said with a chuckle and to her surprise Cho did so, he lifted the baby up and held her on his hip, she giggled and grabbed a toggle on his jacket immediately putting it in her mouth.

"She's teething." Lisbon explained, "She puts everything in her mouth right now."

Cho simply nodded and sat down next to Lisbon on the couch, Lisbon told the others, "He's okay, he might have pain walking for the next month but then he'll be good as new, he's still knocked out from the anaesthetic."

"That's good." Rigsby said as he took a seat in one of the hospital armchairs, Grace sat down next to him, nodding her agreement, "I'm glad he's alright."

"How goes the investigation?" Lisbon asked as she took Lily back from Cho, Lily tried to grab Lisbon's fringe and let out a small yell of outrage when Lisbon moved it out her way, Grace chuckled at the baby as she now reached for the straps of Lisbon's top, "It goes well. We are going to need Jane to speak to the press but Hightower says that can wait until he's well enough."

"Good." Lisbon said, "Where is Hightower?"

"She's doing an interview with the CNN people, she said she's going to come by the hospital as soon as she's done with all the publicity stuff." Rigsby informed his Boss.

"Apparently this is going to have a big effect on the CBI, Hightower mentioned you getting promoted to her job." Grace told Lisbon who scoffed at this news, "If that's true I wouldn't take it, I like my job, hers must suck, there's no field work at all, besides I like my team too much to accept a promotion."

The team all shared smiles and a new voice said, "Aw c'mon Teresa, you know its cause you'd miss me too much."

Lisbon laughed as she looked towards the bed where Jane was watching her with a smile, Lisbon stood and handed Lily to Grace, the baby immediately grabbed her hair making Grace yelp.

"Miss you? I live with you remember." Lisbon teased as she walked over to the bed, Jane grinned and winked at her, "But could you really not see me all day?"

Lisbon rolled her eyes but her smile didn't budge, "I doubt it would make a difference, you'd just sleep on my couch all day, that's what you get paid to do after all."

Jane chuckled and Lisbon leaned down to kiss him, the team all looked away out of respect for their colleagues as Lisbon poured her heart and soul into that kiss. When they broke for air Lisbon whispered in Jane's ear, "I love you." She didn't expect him to reply straight away so she was happily surprised when Jane smiled at her and whispered, "I love you too."

The moment was broken by the door opening and Hightower walking in, she smiled at them all and was carrying a suspiciously large plastic bag. The older woman noticed Lisbons gaze on her bag and smiled at her, "I brought something to celebrate with." She said, taking out a large bottle of champagne and a packet of plastic cups. The others chuckled as Hightower poured out 5 cups of champagne and handed them to the Agents, she pulled a bottle of water out of her bag and poured it into a cup then handed it to Jane.

The Mentalist made a face and Lisbon laughed, "Trust me never mix alcohol and antibiotics."

Jane raised an eyebrow at her and she merely smirked back, the team chuckled at the exchange. Hightower raised her plastic cup of champagne and toasted, "To getting Red John." There was an echo of her words around the room as they all touched their cups to hers and took a drink.

"I'm pretty sure this is illegal." Lisbon pointed out to Hightower but the older woman seemed to have lowered her guard, she smiled mischievously, "We are the law and this is a special occasion, we're changing it."

Rigsby laughed and raised his plastic cup, "To it now being legal to drink in hospitals!"

The others all laughed and raised their cups again to toast, as the laughter died down the door opened again and to Hightower's horror and Lisbons amusement Bertram walked in, he surveyed the scene curiously as the door blew shut behind him, "What on Earth is going on here?" He asked, bemused at the scene.

Hightower smiled sheepishly at him and held out a plastic cup of champagne, "Would you like a drink sir?"

Bertram glanced at the Agents smiles and the expensive bottle of champagne and cracked a smile as he took the cup from Hightower, he raised it in a toast of his own, "To the CBI." He said and the others happily echoed his toast, chuckling at the strangeness of the scenario, here they were with the Boss and the Director of the CBI, all of them in a hospital room drinking champagne. They were all silent for a moment until a new voice rang out through the little white room, "Dada!"

Everyone gazed at Lily in shock, Grace had put her down and she had crawled over to the hospital bed, being nearest Bertram had lifted her up and placed her on Janes stomach where she had been squirming about, but now she was sitting up smiling at Jane and saying, "Dada! Dada!" over and over again.

Lisbon smiled broadly at the scene and she noticed Grace tear up a little. Jane smiled at the little girl, Lisbon thought he was trying to control the waterworks too as he said, "Yeah Lily, I'm your Dada."

**The End (Apart from the Epilogue…)**

**Only the epilogue to go! What did you think? I'm quite excited about writing the epilogue! :D **


	12. Happy Birthday Epilogue

_Life as We Know It_

_Chapter 12 - Happy Birthday [Epilogue]_

_**A/N - Well this story is finished! :D Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed and enjoyed! **_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p>It was a special day in the Lisbon-Jane household. The house was filled with people and was buzzing with excitement. Lisbon's two living brothers James and Andrew had come for the occasion and it was the first time she'd seen them since the funeral. If anything good had come out of the tragedy it was the fact that Lisbon had mended bridges with her other two brothers.<p>

The team were all there and Hightower along with her two children, Minnelli had managed to make it too, there were a few kids running around and several neighbours.

In the kitchen away from prying eyes and ears a small argument was going on.

"She's only 1! she doesn't know the difference between a duck and a cat." Lisbon was saying with exasperation as they debated which cake topper to use.

Jane rolled his eyes, "She can say duck and cat so I beg to differ."

Lisbon scoffed and Jane smirked, "Still annoyed that you've been outranked by cat, duck, cup and bowl?" He asked in amusement as he put the cat cake topper onto the birthday cake.

Lisbon glared at him, "It's been 4 months, she still hasn't said it and I spend much more time with her than you."

"Well its not my fault that you hog the baby." Jane said back but he wasn't angry, in fact he seemed amused by the whole thing.

"I don't hog her." Lisbon retorted, "I just happen to spend more time with her."

"I'd argue that we spend an equal amount of time with her." Jane said, smiling at the woman in front of him as she rolled her eyes, "Sure whatever." She said, picking up the cake, "Do you have the camera?"

Jane nodded, holding it up in his hand, "I'm ready, let's do this."

Lisbon smiled at him and walked out of the backdoor into the large backyard with the cake. Lily was sitting at the head of the large garden table.

As the family walked over they started singing and everyone else joined in, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Lily, happy birthday to you!" Lisbon put the cake down in front of the one year old girl and everyone clapped.

With the camera Jane said to Lily, "Blow the candles out Lily."

Lily looked blankly at the cake and Lisbon laughed, "Mommy's going to help you." Jane said as Lisbon blew the candles out for Lily who clapped happily and tried to stick her hand in the cake.

Lisbon chuckled and grabbed her hand before she could reach the cake, the others at the party laughed too, several of the older kids were on the bouncy castle but the adults were all gathered around the table.

"Patrick do you want to cut the cake?" Lisbon asked and Jane handed the camera over to Rigsby while he cut the cake, Lisbon had picked up Lily and was holding her now, she looked adorable in her little party dress.

"Alright everyone, help yourself." Jane said once he had snagged a bit of cake for he, Lisbon and Lily. Lily immediately dove in with her hands to demolish the cake before she ate it and Jane and Lisbon chuckled as they stood behind her eating their cake.

"You make a very cute family." Grace said with a smile from where she was standing next to Rigsby, Jane smiled at Lisbon who blushed a little, "Thanks Grace." She said.

"Well we couldn't have gotten here without you guys." Jane said truthfully to the team who seemed quite proud at this fact. It had been a great few months with no fear of Red John and being able to be carefree and happy, it had been amazing.

"Teresa and I actually have something we want to tell you." Jane said to the team, and at that moment Hightower walked over, and Jane's smiled widened, "Even better, you need to know this too Madeline."

Hightower narrowed her eyes at them as Lisbon glared at Jane, he only smirked at her and said to the team and their Boss, "Well this only happened a few days ago and we were going to wait because we didn't want to steal Lily's thunder but I think Teresa will explode if she has to keep it a secret any longer."

Lisbon laughed at that and held up her left hand for the team to see, "We're engaged." She said, a wide smile spreading across her face.

"Oh my God, that's amazing!" Grace said immediately hugging Lisbon and then Jane who both laughed at her enthusiasm.

"Congratulations guys." Rigsby said with an amused smile at Grace's behaviour, Cho nodded, giving the couple a small smile, "Congrats."

All eyes turned to Hightower who was smiling too, "That's great news." She said which took them by surprise but lately Hightower had loosened up a lot.

Lisbon caught sight of Minnelli across the yard and said to Jane, "I'm going to go ask him now." Jane nodded and kissed her on the cheek, "See you in a minute."

Lisbon crossed the yard and Jane explained to the team, "Minnelli was her mentor for so long she sees him as a Father figure, she's asking him to walk her down the aisle."

Grace teared up at this, "Oh that's so sweet." She said, wiping her eyes, Jane and Rigsby shared an amused glance at this, Grace could sometimes get a little too emotional.

Lily had finished her cake and the conversation came to a stop as Jane cleaned her hands and face, he than sat her down on the ground, it was dry due to the fact it was a hot day in August and the sun was beating down on the large backyard.

The moment Lily was down she grabbed the table and pulled herself up, she then let go and stood by herself without holding onto anything.

Jane pulled the camera out and yelled, "Teresa! She's going to walk!"

From across the yard Lisbon hurried over and knelt down a little bit away from Lily, with the camera focused on them both Jane said, "Go on Lily, walk to Mommy."

Lily took one tentative step and Lisbon encouraged her, "Come to Mommy Lily."

Lily took another few steps and shouted very clearly, "Mama!"

Jane laughed as Lisbon smiled broadly, she had finally said 'Mama' after saying 'Dada' for months. Lily took the next few steps to Lisbon who hugged her tightly, "Clever girl." She said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Mama!" Lily said again and Lisbon grinned, Jane knelt down with the camera, and Lisbon said, "Go get Daddy Lily."

Lily turned around and stumbled across to Jane shouting, "Dada!"

Lisbon and Jane shared a smile and in that moment they forgot about the party and everyone watching the magical moment, they just saw each other and their family and how it was growing and they could never remember a happier feeling than the one they had in that moment.

Red John was gone, Lily was safe, all was well.

_**The End =)**_

_**I like this story, I also like how it ended, I'm a sucker for happy endings! I hope you all enjoyed it! :D**_


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